Friend breakups hit different. They’re messy, heartbreaking, and rarely come with closure. In today’s episode, we’re breaking down five of the most common types of friendship breakups, why they happen, and how to survive them without losing your mind (or your faith in humanity). If you’ve ever mourned a friendship like it was a death, this one’s for you.
EPISODE OUTLINE:
00:00 Intro
03:21 1. The Mutual Drift
04:18 Aristotle’s utility, pleasure and virtue friendships
06:46 Dunbar’s number: how many friendships can we maintain at once?
08:25 Carl Jung & making friends while wearing a mask
09:40 Mollenhorst’s social pruning study
10:06 Getting through a mutual drift
11:51 Break - with a surprise!
15:23 2. The One-Sided Slow Fade
17:00 How to get through it on the receiving end
19:09 What if you’re the one who’s fading away from a friend?
21:22 3. The Formal Breakup
23:38 How to break up with a friend ethically
24:47 Getting through a friend breaking up with you
25:34 4. The Blow Up
26:42 Sartre & conflict as a mirror of the self
27:44 Getting through a friendship blowing up
28:21 Hegel & conflict as an engine for growth
29:26 5. The Sudden Ghost
30:23 Getting through being ghosted by a friend
32:06 Lightning round recap
32:39 The peak-end rule
34:02 Journaling prompts for processing a friendship breakup
34:33 Poem: To Strangers I Used to Know
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