How to Break Up with Your Friends: Finding Meaning, Connection, and Boundaries in Modern Friendships

Description

Friends hold an especially valuable role for women-few blessings have the ability to fuel us and inspire our joy. And even though we pride ourselves on our big friend networks, we can be afraid to rock the boat and ask for what we really need. So we often settle for friendships that take more than they give. But does it really have to be this way? "I wrote a whole book dedicated to critically analyzing how we spend our time," Erin Falconer reflects, "and there are diets that ask us to write down everything we eat. So why shouldn't we think about our friends as honestly and pragmatically?" In How to Break Up with Your Friends, this celebrated life mentor explores the qualities of genuine friendships-and the deeper principles, assessments, and practices for nurturing them. With clear-eyed guidance, you'll learn how to take stock of those currently in your life, see exactly how you are serving each other, deepen your essential friendships, and, ultimately, have the courageous conversations needed when it's time to "break up" with others. With a wealth of revelations and tools-including the Six Pillars of Friendship, the Friendship Diagnosis, and more-this is the relationship detox you didn't know you needed, to create healthy and lasting friendships.

Erin Falconer is an author, digital entrepreneur, and the editor-in-chief and co-owner of PickTheBrain, one of the most trusted self-improvement communities online. She was named "one of the top digital entrepreneurs in Los Angeles" by Los Angeles Confidential and one of the "Top 10 Women Changing the Digital Landscape for Good" by Refinery29. Erin has a master's degree in clinical psychology and lives in Los Angeles, California. Learn more at erinfalconer.com.

"Through a refreshing mix of anecdotes from Falconer's life and the lives of other women she interviewed, and expert advice, you'll learn how to evaluate whether a friendship is serving you in its current form and how you can take the steps to strengthen a relationship-or ultimately break up with your friend." --Mindful Magazine "Don't let the title fool you--this is a book about connection, empathy, and finding nourishment through friendship. How to Break Up with Your Friends is an essential guide to creating space for these important relationships in our busy lives." --Ximena Vengoechea, author of Listen Like You Mean It "If you've ever been in a situation where ending a friendship felt as painful as a divorce, read this book now. How to Break Up with Your Friends is a manifesto for genuine friendship. Erin sheds light on the qualities of forming deeper connections, prioritizing our well-being, and setting boundaries within our existing relationships, and, ultimately, how to have the courageous conversations needed when it's time to 'break up.'" --Justin Michael Williams, author of Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us "How to Break Up with Your Friends shows the innate power of one of the most underappreciated relationships--our friendships--and gives a crystal clear map of exactly how to unlock that power." --Melissa Ambrosini, bestselling author of Comparisonitis and host of The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast "How to Break Up with Your Friends puts the power of friendship front and center in a way most of us have never contemplated before. Now, more than ever, we need to do friendship right. Erin shows us how." --Denise Vasi, founder of Maed "'Breaking up' with a handful of my girlfriends over the years were some of the most painful and yet also powerful experiences of my adult life. When I think of heartbreak, it's not the men I've dated that come to mind, but the friendships that had to end! I WISH I had had a guide as impactful as the one Erin Falconer has created here. Her fresh perspectives and approachable strategies form an excellent compass for navigating one of life's most complex journeys." --Erin King, author of You're Kind of a Big Deal "How to Break Up with Your Friends is such a great reminder of not only the value of friendship but the personal responsibility a great friendship demands." --Mandana Dayani, creator and cofounder of I am a voter. and cohost of The Dissenters podcast "A refreshing and relatable take on modern-day friendships. Erin shows us how to mine our myriad social connections to find the true gems." --Francine Jay, author of The Joy of Less and Lightly "How to Break Up with Your Friends is really about how (and why) to maintain important connections, and it's a blueprint for how to become a better friend yourself. Falconer tackles the subject of friendship with the seriousness it deserves, outlining the life-changing benefits of friendship (something I agree with wholeheartedly!). I plan on gifting this book to my dearest ones with personalized inscriptions." --Gina Hamadey, author of I Want to Thank You