You're listening to the American Girl Podcast Network.

Welcome to the Smart Girls podcast, everybody.

I'm Shay.

And I'm Jess.

And today we are talking about crushes.

So Crushes is a super popular book on the Smart Girls Guidebooks.

And I would say it's popular because it really does address a lot of things that we feel growing up, dating, rejection, and other stuff.

And all the things we're really curious about.

Yes, that we're curious about.

And I think our hope in having this conversation is we get to define

what crushes are and explore, you know, how to handle them and make sure that people who are

like navigating this moment are feeling supported. Just, I want to dive right into it and ask you,

what is a crush? Very good question, Shay. Okay, so I would define a crush as a feeling

that you get about somebody that can make you feel a lot of different emotions. It can make you

feel excited. You could have a crush on their talent. You could have a crush on their kindness.

But it's a special feeling. I think a crush is a sign of you liking something at a really, like, big level. And that can come up at all different times and all different places.

Yeah, totally. I think for me, the ways that I can tell I have a crush on someone is I get a little bit nervous when I'm

around them and I'm still like, I get all the nerves. A little butterflies for sure. I was going to

say that. And I kind of, I can't get my mind off of them. I just always want to be talking to them,

always want to be hanging out with them. And I find a way to bring up their name in nearly every single conversation. That is like a massive

one where I'm like, oh my God, I think I might have a crush on them. This is why crushes are

actually exciting because it does stimulate a little bit of like a fantasy, right? We might imagine

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