One text message ended my longest, closest friendship of 12 years. No fight. No warning. Just "Friendship with you is like death by 1,000 cuts." Then ghosted. Before I started the Best Friend Project, I was a private investigator and TV journalist, so when my closest friendship blew up I went into full decode mode. I had to figure out what I had done wrong throughout my life in my friendships. In this solo episode, I tell the real story behind the project, the wedding she skipped, the golf tournament that broke us, the months I spent putting postcards in bathroom stalls across the country, gathering data from hundreds of women as I tried to figure out how others find, make and keep their friends. This is not a tidy story. Nor one I am proud of. I own my part in it too.

Mentioned in This Episode

• How one text obliterated a friendship
• What does Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram post have to do with all of this
• The Cry-Fecta of an empty nest, best friend break up and a move to Dallas
• Also weddings are hard on friendships, I am right

To learn more, visit The Best Friend Project.co . While there, take the Friendship Survey and discover your Friendship Archetype. I'd also love to stay in touch, come say hello on Instagram and Facebook I'll follow you back! (That's what friends do!) If you need to reach us, you can always email us at Hello@TheBFProject.com.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Rachel and The Best Friend Project

02:03 Rachel's personal story of friendship breakup and its impact

03:45 The research and survey process behind The Best Friend Project

04:51 Aftermath of the friendship fallout and the backstory

11:47 The emotional toll of friendship fallout and mental health effects

17:33 The story of how Reese Witherspoon inspired The Best Friend Project

21:47 How sharing stories helps heal and build understanding

27:45 Rachel's reflections on her friendship journey and lessons learned

34:00 Moving forward: hopes for better friendships and self-improvement

Tease next week:

Comedian Jackie Kashian joins the show to talk about being one of the only women on the lineup in a world of male comics, and why women in competitive spaces can be harder on each other than men are.

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