February Friendship Challenge: Start a ritual or tradition with a friendThink beyond "Friendsgiving" and "Galentine's Day"
Welcome to the 2025 Friendship Challenge, a monthly series here—and in the Dear Nina podcast—where I issue a “social wellness” challenge. Each challenge stands alone and every one of them WILL improve your friendships. Whenever you’re reading this, start today! TO REVIEW: Why will these challenges improve your friendships?In healthy, robust friendships, there’s less keeping score, less waiting for invitations, and less moralizing about who should have included you. You, dear reader, are in charge. YOU, will do the including. I’m not saying its easy to take charge of your social life, only that it’s the best way to get the results you may want. The February Challenge: Start a ritual or tradition with friendsNo shade to “Friendsgiving” or “Galentine’s Day,” which are both fun traditions that I fully endorse, because why not, but I want you to think beyond the obvious for this challenge. Not everyone is up for bigger events—either hosting them or attending them. This month consider a simple tradition or ritual you could begin with one friend or more. If you have rituals or traditions you’re already doing with friends, share in the comments to help the rest of us! Although you will hear Friendsgiving as an early example in the February challenge podcast episode, when I say “start a ritual,” please know there are endless possibilities from a weekly walk that becomes a permanent part of your schedule to an annual birthday breakfast with one or two friends. Perhaps instead of a book club, once a year you get together with neighbors to discuss their favorite books. You could do that for TV shows—or podcasts! Anything that happens on some of kind of regular basis could be a “ritual.” I use “tradition” for the annual ideas. But really I’m using the words interchangeably. I often get anonymous emails from people who feel they need to start over with their friendships or that they’ve never had good friends. So when you hear something like “start a ritual,” you might be thinking, “But Nina, I don’t have any close friends.” And that’s the point. These rituals and traditions can become the foundation of close friendships. In the episode, I shared a few examples of close friendships born from doing the same activity together once a year. The power in rituals and traditions are not even about the activity itself. It’s about the anticipation and organization! Of course there are tricky elements of planning these traditions, too. For example, how many people should you include? I got into that too in my interview for this topic with Rachel Steinman and Rachel Winter, co-authors of STAY GOLDEN, GIRLS. FIND EPISODE #131 on Apple, Spotify, Youtube, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! Want some accountability for these challenges?
Articles and Other Finds About FriendshipI see so many friendship-related things, either because I find them myself or listeners send them to me. I love hearing from listeners and readers!
Books, Shows, Recipes I’m Into These Days
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Wednesday, 5 February 2025
February Friendship Challenge: Start a ritual or tradition with a friend
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