I'm Courtney Martin, and this is How To, the show where listeners bring us a goal they want to accomplish or a conundrum they're struggling with, and we find the perfect helper to get them unstuck.

Today's episode is one I am very excited about, not only because we're talking about one of my profoundly happy places, But because it's something that seems frivolous

on the surface, but actually underpins society itself. And that is bringing people together.

Recently, I've been feeling called to just gather women. After having two daughters and going

through the pandemic,

I've wanted to reconnect with more women in particular.

But I'm having trouble getting it off the ground.

That's our listener, Christina.

She works in communications for a small healthcare system and also does grant writing and content writing

for mission-driven organizations.

Or, to boil it down, she's really good at

connecting with people. So it should be simple, right? Call up a group of friends, invite them over for a

dinner party, have a good time. A little after, a deep conversation or two, rinse and repeat.

I'm at this inflection point in my life where I'm nearing 40,

and we had that group of people that all connected when we were early moms, and that was

sort of the tie, I guess, that bonded us together. And now as we go our separate ways and our kids

start developing other interests, I'm trying to

find that other through line that can bring us together and connect us on a deeper level.

And I genuinely just want these experiences to be meaningful and profound.

And sometimes I think, who am I to do that?

And what if it's not meaningful?

Will they feel like it's a waste of time when everybody's so busy and overwhelmed already? I want it to be something that's valuable.

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