We've curated tips, stories, and inspiration to help you Skip the Small Talk in your everyday life.
Get out of your comfort zone by opening up and connecting with strangers (or friends if you bring 'em)!
Find EventsReflecting on my connection my partner’s grandmother, I was moved by the fact that I had a direct, loving connection to someone who had a direct, loving connection to someone born around the time indoor electricity first became common. The memory makes me feel close and the past warmer. In the spirit of the shifting seasons, I want to offer four questions you’ll be glad you ask your elders.
Read MoreBusy is the by-word of the day, especially once we enter the working world…pretty much until we stop working, if we are so lucky. I hear frequently from casual connections that they want more friends, or they grieve the tight knit friends of their school days, but cannot imagine having time to make new friends.
If your google calendar looks like a coat of many colors, or you find yourself crashing at 10pm feeling like you’ve had no meaningful connection in a day, these 4 suggestions are for you!
Read MoreWhat can a classic sitcom teach us about friendships that last, and enrich us as people? These 4 iconic characters teach us about needing each other, the importance of getting razzed, and showing up to the hard stuff together.
Read MoreThey agreed to the first date. Butterflies are doing aerial gymnastics in your guts, scenes from any romcom you’ve seen in the last 10 years are playing in your head, and maybe you’re asking yourself “what the heck am I going to SAY?”
Read MoreEveryone’s talking about the over/use of cellphones. From school districts to psychologists to (ironically) social media influencers. Noticing how this extends even to carefully orchestrated group hangs, I want to explore: how can we consciously create time with our friends that give us a break from the phone?
Read MoreAs autumn settles in, how can we effectively recharge our social batteries WITHOUT losing touch completely? We offer four strategies focused on slowing down, connecting more closely, and supporting daily life.
Read MoreWhat can we learn about friendship from a classic fantasy epic? Lord of the Rings offers us a view of friendship that can differ from our cultural assumptions which often emphasize being similar, having similar tastes, and having surface level fun. In this fantasy epic, friendship forms under adverse conditions between unexpected people who share commitment to something bigger than themselves.
Read MorePicture this: you’re lying awake, spiraling about a big decision. Instead of calling a friend, you start typing your worries into ChatGPT. I’ve done it, and maybe you have too. From relationship drama to career crossroads, more people are turning to AI for advice — and some are even calling it their “AI therapist.”
It makes sense. AI is quick, nonjudgmental, and available 24/7. But here’s the question: can a bot really give us what we need most?
Read MoreNothing makes a millennial contend with their own mortality quite like seeing mid-2000s trends resurfacing - and it’s not just Ed Hardy and low-rise jeans. While some people, like Gen Z are trading in online shopping for live-sale vintage bargain-hunting, you’ve probably noticed a shift of people ditching the apps for IRL dating and ways to make friends. And you’d be right!
I recently joined the Curated Questions podcast — a show that dives deep into relationships, friendship, and connection in the modern world, and why in-person meetups are having a much-deserved renaissance. If you’re interested in how to make friends as an adult, navigating dating apps without burning out, or understanding why in-person meetups are making a comeback, you can listen to the whole episode on Apple Podcasts or the Curated Questions Website.
Read MoreMaking friends as an adult can be rough. Even as an extrovert with a lengthy list of hobbies and interests, it took me several years of living in Boston to find a group of friends I jibed with. Along the way, I tried everything from meetups to going to any local event that even tangentially related to any of my interests— I even joined a craft beer club for several years to try to meet new people. I didn’t even like beer!
Along the way, I learned what sort of stuff does— and doesn’t— actually work for making new friends. Here are some tips.
Read MoreAh, the holidays: A time when we hope our lives will look like those wholesome cartoon specials we watched as children, but also a time when anxieties about getting stuck in conversation with people who hold different political and moral ideologies might keep you from doing that happy dance from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
This Thanksgiving, we encourage you to take some time to connect with others in ways that feel authentic without feeling emotionally exhausting. To help the conversation flow, we offer you some ice-breakers that will get others to share about themselves while subtly nudging everyone’s mood in a positive direction. So if you do end up having the “here’s why racism is bad” conversation with Uncle Joe, you’ll have a buffer of positive experience--and perhaps some common ground--that’ll make it easier for you to communicate with one another.
We'll cut to the chase. It’s boundaries, or more specifically, setting boundaries liberally and respecting them consistently.
Surprised? Think about it this way. Boundaries come on a spectrum, which looks different for each person-- there are smaller boundaries, which might look like, “Please lower your voice; my roommates are sleeping” and bigger boundaries, which might be more like, “Please don’t come to my house again.”
What a lot of folks don’t realize is that setting and respecting smaller boundaries are the single best way to avoid the big boundaries.
