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Now, on to the episode.

Speaking of psychology is taking a summer break.

So we're rerunning some of our favorite episodes from the past.

In 2022, I talked to psychologist and friendship expert Marissa Franco about how to make new friends

as an adult and how to strengthen or rekindle old friendship ties.

I hope you enjoy this episode from the archives.

We'll be back with new episodes in a few weeks. When you were a kid, making friends might have seemed easy and natural.

You were surrounded by potential playmates at school and on the playground, and friendships

just seem to happen. And college may have been another situation where friendships easily

blossomed. But for many adults, making new friends and maintaining old friendships is more difficult.

We're all busy with work, our partners, child care, and other grown-up responsibilities,

and friendships often end up taking a backseat to the other priorities in our lives.

Why is that? Why is it so hard to

make friends as an adult? And why don't we prioritize friendship more? If you want to make new friends,

what's the best way to do it? What about strengthening and rekindling old friendship ties?

What are the essential ingredients of being a good friend? And how do you know

...