Maria and Danielle Bayard Jackson on the New Rules of Modern Friendship
We fill our shelves with books on how to love a partner, raise a child, and lead at work, but who teaches us how to make a friend? Danielle Bayard Jackson does. A friendship coach, educator, and author, she treats friendship as a relationship worthy of real intention, and in this brand-new Life Above the Noise with Maria, she offers a roadmap for anyone who's ever thought it was too late to find their people. (Spoiler alert: it isn't.)
Here's some of what Maria and Danielle explore:
Why friendship takes intention now. So many of us remember when it felt easier—in school, in the newsroom, down the hall. Danielle explains what changed, and how to recreate those chances for connection on purpose, especially in an age of remote work and vanishing gathering places.
The one trait that makes friendship easy. Danielle surveyed hundreds of people who make friends effortlessly, and found they all shared a single habit. It's simpler and braver than you'd expect, and anyone can practice it.
The different kinds of loneliness. You can have a wide circle and still feel unseen. Danielle breaks down the surprising truth that there's more than one way to be lonely, and how naming yours points the way out.
How to have hard conversations. From the friend who never initiates to the one who disappears when they get a partner, Danielle shares warm, non-accusatory ways to say the thing, so small pinches never grow into big crunches.
Why it starts inside. Before we go looking for friends, Danielle asks us to look within, at what we believe about ourselves, and to remember that we're worthy of great friendship at any age.
They also get into the differences between how men and women approach friendship, why we all crave the same things underneath, and the small acts of courage that help any of us go deeper. We hope you love this conversation that closes out our Summer of Friendship.
