Why Friendship Is So Hard These Days (+ 7 Surprising Things That Actually Help)

The Liz Moody Podcast

Liz Moody

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Education, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you struggling to form and maintain meaningful friendships? Are the friendships you have unsatisfying or draining? In this episode, I’m giving you my top research-backed tips on friendship, from how to make new memories with old friends to practicing vulnerability in your relationships. Our friendships are some of our most important relationships, but our actions do not tend to reflect this. In reality, many of us just do not prioritize our friendships over other aspects of our lives. The modern work-obsessed and social media-saturated landscape makes it even more difficult to form fulfilling friendships. But, you can use these actionable tips to shift your friendships from unfulfilling check-ins to meaningful connections. Ready to uplevel every part of your life? Order Liz’s book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now! To join The Liz Moody Podcast Club Facebook group, go to www.facebook.com/groups/thelizmoodypodcast. Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody or online at www.lizmoody.com. Subscribe to the substack by visiting https://lizmoody.substack.com/welcome. Check out the previous episode of The Liz Moody Podcast discussed today: How to Figure Out Your Dream Career (And Actually Get It!) with Suzy Welch This episode is sponsored by: Puori: Go to puori.com/LIZMOODY and use promo code LIZMOODY for up to 20% sitewide. LMNT: go to DrinkLMNT.com/LIZMOODY to get a free LMNT sample pack with any order. Thrive Market: go to ThriveMarket.com/LIZMOODY for 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift. The Liz Moody Podcast cover art by Zack. The Liz Moody Podcast music by Alex Ruimy. Formerly the Healthier Together Podcast. This podcast and website represents the opinions of Liz Moody and her guests to the show. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for information purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. The Liz Moody Podcast Episode 330. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, friends, and welcome to the Liz Moody podcast. There's something that I have been thinking about a lot lately,
0:06.2	which is why friendship today is struggling so much. I know so few people who are really satisfied with
0:13.4	their friendship situation, and the data all support this. Loneliness is going up, social isolation
0:18.6	is going up, and there are a few problems that have
0:22.3	jumped out to me, and I want to talk about them today and some fixes, because frankly,
0:27.5	life is too hard to not have friends. We are social creatures and too many of us are getting
0:33.3	friendship, this key social connection, wrong. And I know that you have quite literally never
0:38.4	heard me say this before, but the world's longest study of human beings found that the single
0:42.4	greatest predictor of health and happiness is the quality of our relationship. So research
0:48.1	validates that our friendships do not just feel important. They matter hugely to us feeling good and for us living long, healthy
0:56.6	lives. And friendship is not in a good place. I get to talk to you guys all of the time. And over and
1:02.8	over I hear about how unhappy you are with your friendships, how you wish you had more close friends
1:07.7	or more of a feeling of community. And the stats here are really scary.
1:12.4	Loneliness rates have doubled since the 1980s. One in two adults report regularly feeling lonely.
1:19.6	All of which is to say this is a cultural issue. This is not an individual failing. There is something
1:26.0	going on here. There is nothing wrong with you,
1:28.9	although you can take steps that will make a huge difference, which we will definitely be getting
1:33.5	into in this episode. I have noticed a few things that feel unique to this particular moment
1:39.5	in time that I want to talk about with you guys today. And then for each one, I will share some
1:43.8	actionable steps to help.
1:45.9	So problem one.
1:47.6	So many of us feel like we have no free time between going to work and making dinner and doing
	...

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