Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship
Nina Badzin
Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship is THE podcast for nuanced advice about managing the ups and downs of friendship. As seen in NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Guardian, Time Magazine, and elsewhere, listeners appreciate Nina's practical take on friendship issues.Are you the friend who ALWAYS reaches out first? Or is your friend more invested in the friendship than you are? How do you take a casual friendship to the next level? What if your friend's kid is being terrible to your kid? These questions come up no matter your age and background. Friendship is tricky, even for grownups. Since 2014, Nina Badzin has been fostering discussions about the nitty gritty of adult friendships with sensitivity and practicality in her friendship advice column. Friendship is an endless, timeless, fascinating topic, and the more anonymous letters Nina receives, the more she learns about being a better friend and having better friends. Nina loves hearing from readers and listeners. Her work on friendship is meant to be a conversation, and she hopes you will share your thoughts with her and with each other.ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 How to promote your service, business, or book on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, & the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me on your podcast, your friendships, or need another link? That’s probably here.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 13, 2021 • 29min
#14 - Making Deeper Connections With Friends with Jessica Smock
Jessica Smock, one of the co-creators, discusses the importance of creating opportunities for deeper connections with friends. The podcast explores strategies for building genuine friendships as an adult, including organizing pop-up events based on shared interests. It also emphasizes the value of forming new relationships through shared activities and being open to new possibilities. The chapter on evolving friendships highlights the importance of spending time with like-minded individuals.
Nov 29, 2021 • 31min
#13 - Get Out of Your Comfort Zone to Make New Friends with Michelle Platt
Making new friends as an adult is difficult whether it’s because you moved to a new city, you’re in a new stage of life, or you’re lonely and could use more friends. It takes tons of time to make casual friends you want to see repeatedly and even more time to make close friends. But it’s not impossible. Difficult? Yes. Takes consistent effort and work? Also yes. But it can be done.What helped me make friends in Minneapolis when I moved 20+ years ago in my 20s was accepting that I would often have to be the one to make the effort, and I'd have to do things out of my comfort zone. My guest, Michelle Platt, found she needed the same attitude when she moved to Minneapolis a few years ago in her 40s. This episode isn't only about Minneapolis! Moving anywhere at any age presents challenges. ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Nov 15, 2021 • 26min
#12 - Helping a Friend In Crisis and Asking For Help with Alissa Butterfass
The podcast explores how to help friends in crisis and the importance of asking for help. Topics discussed include providing support without being asked, organizing a meal train, supporting friends and family in crisis, and the significance of asking for help and supporting friends during difficult times.
Nov 1, 2021 • 19min
#11 - Lessons From Male Friendships with Dave Dluger
My brother-in-law, Dave Dluger, and I were talking after recording an episode, we got into a conversation about how male friendships seem to involve less drama and I realized we ought to record it as an episode. I loved getting a male perspective on some of the previous episodes.In addition to male friendships, we talked about friends being there for Dave and my sister during hard times, being aware of our personality foibles while with good friends, thoughts on friends ignoring our social media posts, and much more.ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Oct 24, 2021 • 3min
Mini-Episode: Friends Make Mistakes
Last week in episode #10 with author Jessica Speer who wrote BFF or NRF, we talked briefly about her nine friendship truths. We mainly focused on truth #9— which was “You choose which of your friendships to grow. Grow the healthy ones.” In this mini-episode I am focusing on Jessica's truth #6— "Everyone makes mistakes." If we want wiggle room to make mistakes with friends, we have to allow friends to make mistakes with us. Sounds obvious, but there are definitely people out there with a zero tolerance for others' mistakes (while allowing themselves room to mess up).ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Oct 18, 2021 • 30min
#10 - My Kid Isn't Interested In Pursuing This Friendship with Jessica Speer
It's not easy to say no to a friendship. And it's just as hard to help our kids do the same. How do you handle it when you’re not interested in pursuing a friendship, but you don’t want to be unkind when subtly communicating that message to an acquaintance? And how do we help kids make decisions about which friendships to pursue? It's tricky to simultaneously teach kids to make their own decisions about friendships while teaching them to treat people with kindness. I have the perfect guest to help me dissect this issue of balancing kindness and inclusivity but also boundaries and independence in friendship decisions--author, Jessica Speer.ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Oct 4, 2021 • 20min
#9 - Friends Will Hang Out Without You with Taryn Kessel
Accepting that friends will hang out without you is a key to happier adult friendships. My best friend Taryn Kessel and I discuss that truth. We also talked about how to balance the desire for smaller, intimate friend gatherings with the desire to never leave anyone out. If you've ever been excluded, you know how terrible it feels. But as we get older, we need to figure out how to be gracious about "letting" friends hang out without us, especially if we are also the types who value outings with a few friends at a time. In other words, everybody can't be invited to everything. Most of us know that, but it's too hard to accept.ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Sep 27, 2021 • 5min
Mini-Episode: A Positive View on Friends Asking Personal Questions
A mini-ep to understand why friends ask personal or even intrusive questions, which came up in episode 8 with my mom: “How to handle friends’ questions you don’t want to answer." In that episode, my mom and I talked about strategies for avoiding giving away information, but we didn’t try to understand where intrusive/personal/intimate questions come from in the first place. Today's episode is a more positive view to consider.Let's connect! ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Sep 20, 2021 • 17min
#8 - When Friends Ask Questions You Don't Want to Answer (with my mom!)
The podcast explores the role of privacy in close friendships and the line between intimacy and privacy. They discuss the challenges of sharing personal information on social media and address how withholding certain personal information is considered dishonesty. They delve into the unspoken rules of not asking certain personal questions and share strategies for avoiding questions you don't want to answer. The importance of privacy and setting boundaries in friendships is emphasized, along with the need to maintain confidentialities in a marriage.
Sep 14, 2021 • 5min
Mini-Episode: The Friendship Apology Prayer We All Need
Sometimes we're waiting for apologies from friends and sometimes we owe apologies. Inspired by the Al Chet prayer we say in synagogue on Yom Kippur, I’m offering a version related only to friendship. And like we do for Yom Kippur, I’m using “we” not “I” because I’d like to think I’m not alone in my friendship transgressions. I know not everyone reading this follows the Jewish calendar, but it’s always a good time for a fresh start. ALL THE DEAR NINA LINKS + CONTACT INFO📢 This week’s fabulous sponsor + how to purchase ad space on Dear Nina📱 Subscribe to my newsletter “Conversations About Friendship” on Substack❤️ Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, the Dear Nina Facebook group📪 Ask an anonymous friendship question🔎 Want to work with me or need another link? That’s probably here.Thank you to this week's sponsor: https://www.sassythoughts.com/Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
