After 25 years of friendship, Beth never imagined her best friend might break up with her. “I thought she wasn’t calling back because she was sick.” For a year, Beth kept trying to reach her. When they finally spoke, the conversation ended their friendship. More than 20 years later, telling the story still moves Beth to tears.

In this episode, Beth shares what she’s come to understand about that breakup, including the ways she may have hurt her friend without realizing it. She still loves her, but there’s hurt there too. Could they ever have a friendship again? And what would she need to hear before that could happen?

What makes this conversation especially personal is that Beth is an old friend of mine. I could hardly believe my eyes when I reached her name at the end of her Best Friend Project survey. We hadn’t spoken in almost 15 years. Seeing her again gave me the chance to tell her how much she’s meant to me—and to thank her for holding my infant daughter at my father’s funeral.

Learn more about The Best Friend Project:
https://thebestfriendproject.co

Discover your Friendship Archetype:
Take the Friendship Survey:
https://thebestfriendproject.co/signup

Stay in touch:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebest_friendproject/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBestFriendProject

Questions? Hello@TheBFProject.com

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open
09:00 – The Friendship That Was Always There
15:40 – The People Who Showed Up After Rachel Lost Her Dad
21:22 – When a 25-Year Friendship Ends By Ghosting
26:08 – A Year of Calling, Waiting, and Wondering What Went Wrong
32:55 – Why Nobody Talks About Friendship Breakups
34:52 – Are We Too Quick to Label Friends as “Toxic”?
40:27 – “Will You Be My Friend?”
42:10 – How a Friendship Struggle Sparked a Bigger Mission
46:45 – What Beth Wishes Her Former Best Friend Could Hear
50:51 – Is It Closure She Wants, or Just Accountability?
51:48 – Why We Need to Create Our Own Rules for Friendship


Coming Next Week:

Rachel sits down with her newer friend, Cammy, whom I met at Comic-Con in Salt Lake City. She does makeup for some of the most successful women in the world, and you might be surprised to hear how much they struggle with friendship, too.

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