This episode is a rapid-fire advice session built around your newest friendship questions—and my mom’s fifth time joining me on the show. Together, we talk through realistic expectations for milestone birthdays, uneven effort, group chat conflict, friend group tension, reaching out after long gaps, keeping secrets, and navigating uncomfortable moments with honesty and care. My mom brings decades of lived experience and a refreshingly direct perspective, while I add context from years of writing and podcasting about adult friendship. It’s practical, candid, and grounded in the belief that friendship is worth working on—without turning yourself inside out to make it work. Special thank you, as always, to my assistant producer, Rebekah Jacobs!