Hi friends, I'm Emily Lay and you're listening to the Simplified Podcast. If you're looking for a quiet place where you can filter out the noise and the hustle, this is it.

Every week I invite you to slow down and join me to explore practical ways to organize and automate the complicated parts of life so you can focus on what truly matters most.

Today we're talking all about how to connect with friends even when life is busy, because we've all felt the sweet comfort of spending time with a friend.

If you want to make friendship a more intentional part of your life this season, even when you don't have a lot of spare time, I think our friendship workbook might be able to help.

It's packed with questions and ideas on how you can connect with friends in big ways and even the small ones, because friendships are nurtured in the small quiet everyday moments.

You can find the friendship workbook and the rest of our awesome workbook collection over on Emily Lay.com.

Guys, I can feel it. We are on the ramp up to the busy season.

Once we enter the months that end with BER, I feel like we're on a treadmill that starts off in a pretty manageable way.

But every day the speed is just ever so slightly cranking up until we get past Halloween when we're basically off in a full blown sprint.

And I'm always left wondering, how did this happen? When did this happen? How's the Christmas again?

I hate to admit it, but I feel like one thing that doesn't get my attention during this busy time of year are my friendships.

That makes me so sad. Sometimes I feel like I have to put friendship on the back burner because so much other stuff starts to take over my life.

Work gets busier as we start to gear up for the rush of the holiday season.

Schools ramping up and the kids are having more after school activities and class parties and sleepovers and everything else that makes their lives fun.

But requires just a teensy bit more of my time to coordinate it.

There's all sorts of fall fun. I want to make sure isn't our schedule, all the orchards and pumpkin patches and apple cider donuts and football games and hay rides.

So when and all of that do I take some time for me?

When do I get to spend some good life giving time with my friends?

When are we going to sip a glass of wine at Book Club? When am I going to read the book?

And when am I going to see the others who live in other states but are still so dear to me?

Friendship is something that I've wanted to be more intentional about this year.

I've heard from so many of you that you want to also.

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