Friendships in Adulthood – How to Build and Maintain Meaningful Connections

Making and maintaining friendships as an adult isn’t always easy. Between busy schedules, life transitions, and personal growth, it can feel challenging to nurture deep, meaningful connections. But here’s the truth: friendship is essential for emotional well-being, self-growth, and overall happiness—and it’s never too late to build strong bonds.

In this episode of Shift Happens with Shay, we’re diving into:

✨ Why adult friendships feel different from childhood and college friendships
✨ How to attract and cultivate deeper, more aligned connections
✨ Navigating friendship breakups and natural shifts
✨ Practical ways to maintain friendships despite busy lives

Whether you’re looking to strengthen your existing friendships, make new ones, or let go of relationships that no longer serve you, this conversation is for you.

🎧 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite streaming platform.

💬 What’s the biggest challenge you face in adult friendships? Drop a comment or share your thoughts in a review!

#AdultFriendships #MeaningfulConnections #BuildingCommunity #FriendshipMatters #ShiftHappens

Continue the conversation with Shay on her Instagram, Facebook page, website, and linkedIn! You can also email Shay at shifthappenswithshay@gmail.com if you are looking for insight about your life, send your stories, or request topics you would like to address.

Please note this podcast is not a substitution for therapy, if you require assistance with exploring trauma, deeper relationship issues, or more please reach out to establish care.

Transcript

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Hey there, and welcome to Shift Happens with Shea. I'm Shea, your host and licensed marriage and family therapist. This podcast is where we dive into all the shift life throws our way, whether it's relationships, mental health, personal growth, or just figuring out this crazy journey of adulting. Here, we're all about honest conversation, real stories, and a whole lot of laughs as we tackle life's challenges together. This is your space to grow, explore, and feel seen. So grab a cozy spot, maybe a cup of coffee or a wine, and let's get ready to shift through it all. Thanks for tuning in, and remember, no matter what life brings us, we're in this together. Hey guys welcome. I am so excited to have you back for another session. How did your week go? Well, actually your two weeks, I hope it was phenomenal. And if it wasn't, I hope you were able to seek comfort, sit in that, you know, those sucky feelings and then let them pass through because those feelings do not dictate the rest of your life. The rest of your day. The rest of your week. Let the feelings pass like an ocean. Last time in session, we were talking about letting go. So how did we do with letting go in these past two weeks? What are some things you found yourself being able to let go that was easy, maybe going on a fast or no longer taking dairy because you have an intolerance or what were some things that were difficult such as having hard conversations? with loved ones, maybe changing your career path, maybe changing your major in school and having to pivot from your dream job. There's a lot of things that come with letting go. But also with letting go, like I mentioned before, we then Get to open up and be accessible and ready to receive more beautiful things for our lives, such as building and maintaining meaningful connections. So that's what this episode is about. So friendships in adulthood look very different from what they look like in our younger years and meaningful connections are essential for our wellbeing. Today, we're going to explore how, building, maintaining, and nurturing friendships that truly matter, even with our busy schedules. Arges. Chef kiss like that. I feel like looking over the years of my friendships, they have definitely changed. You know how when we're younger, we're told we got to be friends with everybody and it don't matter. Be nice, be kind. Even though you might think the kid in the corner is kind of weird, but your mom told you, you have to be nice. So you got to be friends with in class. And it's so interesting that from like a young age, we tell everybody with this internal message or like subliminal that you need to be accepted by everybody. And in order to do that, you have to accept everybody. When, as we get older, that dismantles because as we go through school, we then end up getting clicky. You start finding your people anyways, and you Don't talk to anybody really well, I'm not gonna say not anybody but not everybody you start clicking with people that you actually care about I can remember kids in my Of course elementary school that I clicked with but I wasn't friends with everybody in the class, but I knew everybody in the class Which was fine. I mean we all ended up going to the same classes together from grade one through four fifth grade We got a little spicy and I went to public school So I no longer got to be on my friends which sucked but new beginnings because I ended up clicking pretty well with It's about, I'd say about four, four or five people in my class and which isn't too bad. And even if I wasn't like besties with the rest of the class, I knew them from actually kindergarten because we all went to the same afterschool program and whatnot, which was wild. And it's funny that I'm having this conversation because I just talked to my boyfriend about this as we went out to eat and we were just going through our childhood, but like Friendships there, I do feel like they were pretty deep, deep in a sense of however deep I was at the time. I mean, how deep can you be as a 10 year old as long as you really haven't been through trauma? Or have been taught to intellectualize your feelings. But, I was pretty close with people then, we laughed, we talked about drawings, anime, whatever was happening in class, getting excited about going to middle school. And then my friendships started to look a little different. It became a little harder for me. And to make friends just because middle school year, I jumped around from school to school moving between Florida and New York, which I will say my middle school years were definitely hard. They're a little strange. I feel like middle school is just a strange period in life. I don't really care what nobody says, but it just always is weird. I feel like it's this weird twilight zone. I don't know. It's a weird time. But not that middle school was bad. I did make friends. I did get close again. So like a good core group of four or five people and then would have a bestie, like a main bestie in that group. But then I'd have to leave and then start over again. And I'm already not really the biggest person. I'm just letting everybody in my circle and just. I'm just going out there and I know it's wild as you guys are listening to me. And if you've seen me in real time, most people think I'm an extrovert and I am far from that. I am not extroverted whatsoever. I'm extroverted when I have to be just like you could be ambidextrous with your hands. I just am ambidextrous with that. But my extrovert is kind of. Just needed in the moment, but I can't go long periods. I am not energized having full blown conversations all day and being around people all day. Now from my loved ones, yeah, all means. I'm definitely okay and don't feel my energy being zapped as quickly. So yeah, definitely introvert there. But like I mentioned, it was hard because every year I was moving, I was making these friends and then boom, we're gone. Eighth grade year was definitely really hard as I was in Florida. permanently. And I got excited. The high school I was going to go to, I got to do sleepovers for the first time in eighth grade and stuff, which was amazing because my mama's not like that. And as a child, I'm like, cool, we're finally stable. We have stability. And I'm going to have friends that I don't know. We're going to high school. So we're gonna be friends forever because forever is what you tell your friends when you're that young even with that. Nope. Ended up moving to another city in Florida and that really sucked. I still talk to two of my friends from then, but it's not the same. We were actually really close. A lot of things we were in common. And I find that like the common theme when you're younger is that you connect kind of like as you do as adults, but more of like what your current, uh, obsession or passion hobbies are you connect a lot on that and at that time for me it was we were connecting about boys anime drawing and then we had similar classes such as like computer class but yeah most of it was anime primarily inuyasha you couldn't tell me and my friends anything when it came to that but then in high school it was so different still having to find something to connect with people but realizing you didn't really find your people And high school, you spend so much time again, going back to that kindergarten mindset, trying to be liked by everybody, trying to find your niche, your group, your people. And it's so hard because you mask like no tomorrow until you might find your people. And even in high school, I had a good amount of friends that I actually sat with at the table and stuff like that. Those girls, they're, I'm not close to them whatsoever. They can't really tell you anything deep about me. We just hung out with each other. I made, honestly, really three good friends out of high school, and one of them I don't talk to. One of them is still my best friend, and the other, I connect with him every now and then, and I just love to see his growth. So we talk almost like pen pals. Like, how are you doing? It's almost like snail mail, but in real time. Yeah, and then college my mom always told me you'll meet your real friends in college and She was right Not that my friends in high school are not my real friends or anything like that. Like I love my new muffin I actually saw her just recently on Monday. So I just realized an adult, you know You go through a lot of things as an adult Whether it is traumatic, love, careers, academic, finding out who you are as a person, it's so wonderful to see how those friendships mature over time because you get to see the women or men in your life. Change with you as life is going on, whether it's on fire or it's blooming, it's just so different. And I'm so blessed with the friend group I currently have. It's been trial and error as anything, but yeah, I wouldn't change my girls for the world. And also the guys in my life who are amazing support systems like my brothers. I will say it is harder to maintain friends as we get older and that's just because not everybody's meant to grow with you. Some people are just meant to be a season and it hurts because people who were meant to be seasonal, we really cry because we were trying so hard to keep them in our lives as a forever, as a root on our tree instead of a branch. And of course, it's hard because life, you go to different schools or You have different jobs, you move, you have a kid, so you're in different phases of your life. Somebody gets married, you're in a different phase in life. I feel like phases in life that happen when we're adults is what makes it a little bit difficult as we get older. So, Backtracking though friendships are still important. No, despite their difficulties. They're still amazing to have They help our mental health. I mean, we are just not meant to be isolated. We are meant to be around others We are meant to feel loved. We are meant to be embraced. We are meant to socialize We are meant to have our own community everybody Cultural whatnot in your cultures, you will find that people have a community, a village, and just the same as they say it takes a village to raise a child, that does not change when it comes to your adulthood. It takes a village because no king did not have a council. Every king did. Every person has somebody that they can rely on to. Talk to about their deep feelings, their thoughts, maybe, career moves they're thinking about doing new relationships, just any kind of decision making that's going on. The role of your friendship and your mental health is just exponential. It really helps us alleviate that loneliness and let us know that there are people in our corner that care about us and happiness and longevity Do you know how amazing it is with life you when you look forward to sharing it with other people? No different than a romantic partner. So saying what your friendship You want people to share your life with, you want people to share your wins with your accomplishments, your achievements. I recently became licensed in another state and I was so excited. Of course I told my family, but then I ran and told my girlfriends, we have our like nice little girl squad chat. And I just went and told them like, hell my God. Hey. And they were just like, we got a party. We got to celebrate celebration dinner. Oh my gosh, you did that. Like always hyping me up. It just gives me happiness. It does give me reassurance, of course, a little validation, and it just makes life worth living another reason. And that goes into me also saying that quality over quantity is key in adult friendships. I don't know about y'all. I personally cannot fathom having. a large friend group and like maybe 10 plus or whatnot. And I mean like really, really, really close friends. That's too much. Life is really hard to keep up with one another due to the responsibilities we got going on our busy schedules, whether that's what Children, your relationship, your career, every, everything just kind of happens there. So large groups are hard, but it's also hard to the track quality. You will always find quality wins over quantity because when you realize that people are not reaching out to you you're doing a lot of the reaching out, you're doing a lot, you know, like calling, trying to make plans, you find an event, thinking about people and you go out of your way to let them know. But they don't do it bad back you end up deleting them people who control alt delete because you feel empty You feel unloved you feel unworthy of their attention you feel possibly resentment because it's just unfair Always go for quality Quality friendships will last a lifetime They will stand the test of time They won't just deteriorate because you didn't want to go to a certain event or you're no longer into a certain lifestyle. These friendships. Actually grow with you all the many versions of you and it accepts you and it holds you and It's there to support you. You want people that you could talk about all things with and I mean that all things wait I'm not saying that you have to overshare with everyone I am a firm believer also that some friends just all serve a certain purpose Because maybe you're closer to one friend and you feel like you could go more in depth on a certain subject than with another friend But that's where again, that quality comes from you want to have quality friendships that's not based on superficial things There are tons of people who like anime. I am NOT friends with everybody that likes anime I am friends with people who may be into anime or may not. Yeah, I am friends with people Who really care about more than one aspect of me as a person? This not just because I love anime that we're friends. I love anime. That's one thing about me You love but you love me because of all these other things too and what we do for each other and our friendship and not in like a Transactional manner not like that at all So definitely get you quality friends, and I'm wondering as you're listening to this Just you know, I know you're in the car or wherever you're at But really think about it who your quality friends how many you got of them like? On your fingers who, who are they? Who she, who she is? Who he is? And I know you just smiled over them because you know why they are quality friends. Not like the other people, you can already think about times where they were down for you and there for you. And despite many conflicts you may have had over the years, they are still standing with you. So. With quality friends, they do stand the test of times, which are challenges, as I've already mentioned, busy schedules, life's responsibilities. We just do a lot as adults. We really don't have time. I don't care what nobody says. There's just no time. There's not enough time in the day. My best friend from high school, we literally used to only see each other two times a year. If that. One time a year for sure for her birthday. Always showed up for her birthday. But other than that, it was just so hard. She does, she's very busy with her job. She does a lot. She's in leadership. And then at one point, I was in leadership, or I was doing my internship. Our schedules just did not match. Making it very difficult for us to really plan anything. But it didn't kill our friendship. Because you know what? When, even if you're not able to see each other in person, it's okay. Other ways me and her connect through memes, different little mocktail videos, different puppy videos, just all kinds of things. And then we'll just message each other every now and then because your friendship doesn't end just because you can't see each other every day. And that's one of the differences from like your younger years, our friendships are based on proximity because we could see you every day. Hang out with you constantly, like not just text, like text probably wouldn't be enough for you. If you were in middle school or high school, you just need that constant connection. I'll see you tomorrow. We're in class together. Oh my God, we need to have lunch together. I need your presence. Whereas as adults, we don't need each other's presence. We want each other's presence, but also understand that when we can't have each other's presence doesn't mean our love disappears. Bye. Life phases may separate some of us as I mentioned before, careers, relationship, and parenthood because lifestyle changes. Again, the seasonal friends will, will leave. They won't be there because it's just I don't have nothing in common with you. I'm single, but you're married. What are we going to be doing? Or, Oh, you got a kid. I don't like you're going through motherhood and I don't know how to be there. I don't want to be around kids all the time. Some people just fall off, but your quality friends are going to be there anyways. Think about that when you make a new friend. Think about that when you are talking to new people. And that leads me to even making new friends as an adult, which is kind of awkward. It's awkward because it's not like we're in a classroom and you got all these selections of people in this one building. We have to Actually be intentional about who we're talking to and if we even want to talk to people It's just awkward cuz you're just like so what do I tell you? What do I say? Almost like a first date Even dating is awkward as an adult as you get older. So it's the same thing as like we're friends. You're just This, this is weird. What do I say? But I find that with like adult friendships, you end up clicking with people due to like situations that tend to happen sometimes. Whether that's somebody you met at work or you're at an event and something is happening and you both make a similar reaction or have similar thoughts to something and you just laugh or you end up engaging more with that. Thought that's usually how my friendships and adult has happened. I don't go out of my way to look for friends I Have an intention such as like I want to do something I don't know whether that's I want to learn to make bath bombs or whatever. So I end up joining groups. I'm watching YouTubes or whatever. And as I'm in those groups, I'm starting to talk with people and we're just commenting back and forth. And sometimes you just hit there where you then end up having a mentor or you get somebody that's doing the journey with you. Boom. You're starting to make a friend there. Same thing with just anything. I don't know, even if you are a person that meets people outside and about like the, I'm not the bar, but a lounge or whatnot, it's usually something that clicks. That's like, Oh, that's so funny. What? Okay. Why do you think about that? And then you guys just keep talking and talking, but I understand it's awkward and it's hard. It's just, it just is. It's not as easy as when we were kids, everybody just doesn't like you off rip and not everybody will give you a fair chance. So we're wise with it. It's okay. And then on top of that other challenges in adult friendships, conflicts and setting boundaries was go back to, our last session. Two sessions ago. So a month ago when we talked about boundaries, navigating conflict, because not everybody deals with conflict well, and not everybody is comfortable setting boundaries, reinforcing boundaries, or even some respecting it. So those. will definitely be challenges even when you're making new relationships and when you're trying to Enhance your current ones you may find this very daunting to talk about the boundaries with your current friends Because some friends might feel like you acting up, or you know you brand new Which is not really the case again Your quality friends are not gonna come at you like that your quality friends are gonna come from a place of love and curiosity And be like Shay, what's going on like you're good Are you all right? What's happened lately? Tell me about what's going on in life right now. I'm okay to respect that. I just want to understand the changes that are going on with you and perfectly fine. Then we can have open communication. Not everybody's that way. Let me tell you, your boundaries will be the quick way to weed out your quantity friends from your quality ones. You'll really realize who's around you when you start putting those boundaries down. So Shay, how do we build meaningful friendships? Like help me out. I told you one of them be intentional. You got to make space and efforts for friendship. And it goes both ways, vice versa. I'm not telling you to be the only one making space and the only one making effort. This goes both ways. We got to reach out to people. If we're thinking about somebody, go send the text. If you wanting to, set something up. Go for it in a space, put yourself out there, and I know that's hard, and I know it's scary, and I know it's awkward, but it's gonna be really good for you. This is how we meet people. You gotta put yourself out there. No different than when you're dating. Be intentional about your friendships too. They deserve the effort. They're worth the time. Finding your people. Where and how to connect. I mentioned bath bombs and whatnot. Whatever. I do hand creations from time to time. I do dancing, yoga I go to events, wellness retreats, It's just some places, but those are places where I can communicate and connect with other people. I get to find other people who are interested in lifestyle choices that I'm into. And that's a place to start with a friendship because it brings y'all together. You have a common thing and now we can explore other avenues of one another. Think about your hobbies, think about events you love to go to, think about different community festivals or whatnot that you want to be a part of. This is the place where we go ahead and connect. And I know, again, connecting is hard, but you can do it, go. Go do it. Go talk to that person. Go tell them you love their dress. Tell them you love their makeup. Tell them you love their jewelry. Where do they get that from? Oh my God, we've got them into that. Go ahead. I make it a point for myself, not that I'm trying to be friends with everybody, but if I like something on somebody, I do go up to them and I tell them, I love your dress. You have beautiful eyes. I love your hair. Oh my God, your shoes are amazing. And I do that. Just because one, it gets me out my shell. Two, it does make people feel good. And it does spark up conversations from time to time. And you meet new people. It works. I'm telling you. Go ahead. Now, don't be creepy about it. Actually mean your compliment. Don't just compliment to compliment and not be sincere. That's weird. Now, that's really awkward. And when you finally meet that person, you guys are connecting on the hobbies or events you go to, or maybe the communities you guys are both a part of, you can deepen the connection. And this is important because you're going to need vulnerability and reciprocity. Reciprocity. It has to be reciprocal. And that's what I meant with being intentional. This is a space where we choose Use your discernment, of course, to be vulnerable. This is when we get to know each other. This is where we get to know things that have hurt us or things that bother us. Things we just so love not saying it, it doesn't have to be trauma based, but vulnerability is just being real. No mask being you, raw and authentic. You don't need to play a role. You just need to be you. And I know that's scary because what if they don't accept you? What if they think you're weird? What if they think, I don't know, they just have a bias about something. And they're allowed to have those feelings. They can have those thoughts, but those thoughts and those feelings don't define who you are. You deserve to be loved and seen by people who want to get you, who want to understand you. We don't have to like all the same things and we don't have to be a carbon copy of each other. That's not what a meaningful friendship looks like. We're going to be different. We're going to be into different things and some of us are going to have very different backgrounds but the fact that we're vulnerable and able to speak about those different backgrounds and how they shaped us and why we're into what we are and we're just curious about one another and we are You know also giving back that curiosity to other people deepens our connection because we get to learn more about each other outside of just the one or two things that connected us in the Beginning. And once you got these relationships. Keep going. Maintain consistency. You got to stay connected despite busy schedules. Like I said, my best friend from high school, we do memes, dog videos. Anytime that I'm thinking about her, I'm telling, I'm sending her that meme or whatever. My other friend, I have two besties that are also out of state. Probably actually technically three. Hi, Tashi. Probably three. But, again, they get memes. I got a weekly date with the other one. The other one, we share mocktail recipes. I mean, we share a lot of cooking recipes. I don't really cook, but I love to see when she cooks. I'm an observer. I love it. But it's consistent. We have to stay connected with each other despite these schedules because without that connection, what are we doing? It's just like how you're going to be intentional in your relationship with your, romantic partner. Be intentional with your friends. That's how we stay strong. That's how we stand the test of times. But also, yeah, we're going to respect life seasons. I'm not expecting my friends to be overly active in communication if say, for one, one just had a baby. Girl, I'm not expecting you to be texting me. You got brain fog. You got new motherhood. What does it even mean to be a mother? I don't even know. Your body's going through so many changes. I don't know what your relationship is looking like right now. Everything's looking chaotic and you don't need me going down your throat talking about, Oh my God, like really? You haven't texted me in three weeks. I mean, it's. Oh, it's already been three weeks. You already pushed her out. What's the what's the big deal? Absolutely not. We gotta respect the life seasons we have. We gotta allow our friendships to evolve naturally. Be there for one another. Your roles as a friend looks different in each season for each person and that's okay. Let them evolve. Let yourself grow in this friendship. And again, continue to always set boundaries. Our friendships should be fulfilling. Not draining. We should not feel drained when we see that girl's name or that boy's name show up on our phone. It shouldn't be dread and eye roller. Oh dang, it's her again. Dang, it's him again. Oh man, I've been dipping and dodging. Why? Why is this friendship so draining? What about this person makes you avoidant? What about this friendship maybe causes harm? We gotta really think about that. Set your boundaries. And if they don't respect it, That means we got to let go and then we got to navigate disagreements without losing friendships. We're not going to like everything. We're not going to agree on everything. There's nothing wrong with that. Our differences make us beautiful. Again, differences make us beautiful. We grow from difference when we hear each other. We don't have to agree with everything. Nothing should be big enough to lose your friendship over unless it is attached to your values and beliefs. Like your core being as a person. And look, that's up to you. That could be political. That could be just, your very thoughts of being of what makes you who you are. End. If something about that person, they disrespect some kind of part of you, you're part of LGBTQ, you know, cute. Yeah. L G B Q T I A plus, let me get it correct. Cause I am an ally. Like just, they disrespect some sort of aspect of your life, downplay it, dismiss it, whatnot. We're always open to having conversations, again, curiosity, but if that disagreement means that you disagree with who I am as a person, how are we even friends? How can you show it for me authentically without that bias? And those are just conversations to have. We don't need to yell about it. We can just talk about it. Just how. And if we don't have a how or we don't feel like we can, then we need to let it go. But every conflict does not mean we got to fight about something. If somebody is hurt about something that you did, we can give each other a cooling off. We can step back for a second, take a breather. Come back the next day, send a text, but don't just go without talking. If you feel hurt, communicate that that's how we move forward. But again, recognize when a friendship is no longer serving you. We talked about letting go in the last session. We have to let go. If it hurts us, if it belittles us. It dismisses us. It doesn't hear us. It doesn't see us. It doesn't think about us. If that friendship makes you feel so lowly, makes you feel invisible, let them go. Let them go. And understand sometimes it's not even something ugly. Sometimes we outgrow friendships, and that's normal. Remember what I mentioned. Some people are meant to be seasonal. Let that person be seasonal. Let them be your winter and then when they leave and it's time for spring, let them go. Let them melt away. It's alright. Not every friendship will stand the test of time and that's painful and it hurts. But we got to learn to release friendship or gratitude instead of guilt. Don't hold on to people because man, I just feel so guilty. I may potentially be the only friend they got, or, we've been friends since we were in kindergarten and oh man, but I owe them so much for all they've done for me and hold up, hold up, hold up. Gratitude instead. You can still be grateful for everything you've done for that person or they've done for you. You can be appreciative of their role in your life. You can still love that person and release them because the friendship no longer serves you. You guys aren't on the same page at all. The way you think about life and see life or where you're going in your life, the next level, you find it really hard to see how they're gonna fit in there. And that's okay. We have these meaningful connections for a reason. If it's not going to bring you peace, happiness, joy, fulfillment, and it's just going to bring dread or just obligation, learn to release that person, appreciate all that the friendship gave and then let it go. Let that bad boy go. You're not a bad person for it. And maybe as I talked about this, you already have somebody in mind and you just wonder, Shay, I don't know. It's still hard. I'm not telling you, you have to let that person go today, but there's also no purpose for you. It's not good for you to keep somebody in your life that doesn't bring joy and that you probably don't even bring joy to anymore because they probably don't even reach out as much either. So why are we wasting time? Just think about it. You don't have to do anything else. Just reflect. So remember our friendships, we got to be intentional about it. Find your people and be vulnerable. Be ready to be vulnerable and do your part. Continue to reach out to your friends. Respect whatever they're going through in their life and accept your role in there and keep going with them boundaries. Those are important We got this. Being an adult is weird. This hood is crazy, but we're gonna make it Okay, so as you're thinking about your friendships in the next two weeks till our next What's one step you can take to nurture a friendship this week? What's one step? I'm going to say one week. What's one step you can take to nurture your friendships in the next two weeks? Think about it. I'm going to post that question on IG. It'll probably be posted honestly on Monday until tomorrow. So I want to hear from you. What's the one step you're going to take to nurture a friendship this week? My step is that I made time for my bestie. So I saw her Monday my other bestie. I'm gonna Talk with her about the anime. We just watched which I have so much to talk about on that because the heck And then let's see what other ones I'm gonna do I'll share with you on there too But those are a couple of ones that I'm doing already this week You just need to pick one step that you can take you don't have to go too crazy about it. So Thank you again for sharing this space with me. Thank you for being vulnerable with me. If you cried thinking about the friendships you needed to release while listening to this episode, that's a okay. You're okay boo. Let those tears fall. Be in it. It's all right. This episode is not meant to make you feel bad about the friends you have. You have whatever friends you have for whatever season they serve their purpose for. I get it. And it's hard. I don't want anybody to feel isolated or alone. If they, gotta leave people. If you gotta go find your people while still managing with that person in your life. Do that. Do that. You don't gotta cold turkey people unless they're really disrespectful and abusive. Yeah, cold turkey and do what you gotta do. But again, thank you so much for being here with me. I appreciate you guys so much. I want us to start diving into a series about embracing change and empowering ourselves. What? Shea? Yeah. So we're going to go ahead and we're going to dive into that. And, some of those beliefs we got to change that. So we're going to talk about letting go our limiting beliefs. We're going to talk about rewriting our narrative because we're allowed to, you're allowed to pivot and change who you are without having to worry about what other people got to say about it. And I'm going to be here with you while we do that. So. If you're ready for that. Yay. So again, thank you for listening. Please share this podcast with all your loved ones, wherever they listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, wherever else you're listening to me at. Share the love, share the gems, drop the reflections. If you have questions for me, please DM me. You can email me as shifthappenswithshea at gmail. com. You can reach out to me on Instagram at shifthappenswithshea. You can even find me on LinkedIn if you want to go that route and that Shantanique Moore King, you will find me on there. If you want to work with me, reach out to me. I'm happy to do so. Okay. So please share the podcast. Do the reviews. I appreciate you guys when you do. I really do. That's all for now. You guys are phenomenal. You're amazing. Keep pushing. Life's hard, but you're more impressive, honestly, than life. All right, guys. Love you all.