Tanya Cothran on Conscious Friendship

"I wish people would start talking about their friendships with their friends" — Tanya Cothran

Tanya Cothran is a friendship animator and writer of the newsletter, Platonic Romance. She joins Valery to talk about how to navigate the impact of major life changes on friendship, like one friend becoming a parent or another one moving, and what models of conscious friendship can look like.

In this episode:

* The (literal) moves that led Tanya to centring friendships in her life.

* The positive and touching reactions to Tanya’s newsletter about friendship, Platonic Romance

* How Tanya (child-free-by-choice) and her good friend Clara (a new mom) navigated the shift from two-of-us to three-of-us through dialogue and dedicated friend time. 

* Why the answer to so many friendship related questions is “talk about it,” and Tanya’s tips on how to do that well

* Different types of friendships (and why we need all of them)

* How to show up for people in big life moments, like bereavement, in order to have more lasting friendships in your life

* What can happen when you and one of your besties are both moving, and you have an honest conversation about the fact that if you live more than a 10 minute walk apart you probably won’t see each other as much

* How some flyers and a group chat were the keys to Tanya making friends in her new condo building. 

Find Tanya: 

Platonic Romance       

Find Other Episode References:

The Friendship Files (series in The Atlantic)

The Friendship Renaissance 

The Friend Who Got Away 

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