Tired of One-Sided Friendships? (6 Signs to Know When To Walk Away)
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 28.5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you ever felt taken for granted by a friend?
Do you find yourself always making the effort?
Today, Jay dives into the delicate line between real and fake friendships, revealing the subtle cues that help us identify who truly has our best interests at heart. He explains that genuine friends honor your boundaries, celebrate your authenticity, and encourage your growth, while superficial friends may pressure you into compliance, keep score, gossip, or feel threatened by your success. Drawing on psychological insights around attachment styles, envy, and social debt, Jay highlights how friendship dynamics are less about labeling people as good or bad, and more about recognizing behaviors that either uplift or drain us.
Jay reminds us that true friendship is grounded in honesty, generosity, and shared growth. Real friends don’t keep score, they celebrate your wins as their own and stand beside you through every change. Most importantly, Jay challenges us to reflect on how we show up for others, emphasizing that being a genuine friend requires patience, compassion, and courage. This conversation isn’t just about recognizing fake friends; it’s about becoming the kind of friend who makes others feel seen, valued, and safe.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How to Spot a Fake Friend
How to Protect Your Boundaries
How to Handle Envy in Friendships
How to Know If You’re “Too Much” or “Not Enough”
How to Build Friendships That Grow With You
How to Be a Real Friend
When we surround ourselves with people who celebrate our growth, and choose to show up for others in the same way, we build friendships that not only endure but also bring out the best in who we are meant to become.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jay Shetty
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What We Discuss:
00:00 Intro
01:07 Are Your Friendships Genuine?
02:20 #1: Watch How They Handle Your Boundaries
08:50 #2: Are They Keeping Score?
12:39 #3: Share Your Good News and See How They React
17:48 #4: Do They Make You Feel Like You're ‘Too Much?’
19:43 #5: Observe How They Talk About Others
23:04 #6: Do They Want the Best From You or For You?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:04.2 | Fake friends want you to say yes, even when your soul is screaming no. |
| 0:10.3 | Real friends respect your no, because they care more about your peace than their plans. |
| 0:17.5 | Fake friends want your agreement, even when you see the world differently. Real friends want your |
| 0:23.9 | honesty because truth matters more than comfort. Fake friends need your validation. Real friends |
| 0:31.9 | can handle your challenge because fake friends are only loyal to your compliance. But real friends, they're loyal to your |
| 0:41.9 | authenticity. The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. He won. The only |
| 0:48.6 | Jay Shetty. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose. I'm your host Jay Shetty and I'm so grateful that you've |
| 0:57.2 | joined me today, whether you're cooking, whether you're walking your dog, whether you're at the |
| 1:01.1 | gym, whether you're commuting to or from work. I'm so thankful that you're spending this time |
| 1:05.6 | with me. Make sure you subscribe to the channel so that you never, ever miss an episode. |
| 1:12.1 | Now I feel like I'm at that age where the conversation around friendships is back. I feel like we talked a lot about |
| 1:17.0 | friends when we were in our teens, and I'm at that point in my life right now where I know |
| 1:20.8 | that some of my friends are feeling a bit screwed over by other friends. Other friends are |
| 1:25.4 | feeling like people are not showing up for them. |
| 1:32.2 | Other people are starting to figure out who people really are. And it's strange when you've had someone in your life for 10 years, 15 years, maybe even less than that, where you start to |
| 1:37.4 | think about, was this person ever really a friend? Were they a fake friend? Did they have different |
| 1:42.7 | agendas? Did they have different motives? Did they have different intentions? |
| 1:47.0 | How did we even connect? |
| 1:48.0 | Wait a minute, why did I trust this person? |
| 1:50.0 | If you've ever had any of those questions before, this episode is for you, because I'm going to |
| 1:56.0 | break down the subtle signs between real and fake friends. |
... |
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