One Man's Impossible Quest — To Make Friends in Adulthood

One Man's Impossible Quest — To Make Friends in Adulthood

Several years ago, there was a tweet that went viral which said that of Jesus' many miracles, perhaps his greatest, was having 12 close friends in his 30s.

As people say, it's funny, because it's true.

When my guest today came face-to-face with the anemic state of his own friendships, he set out to try to do the miraculous himself, and make friends in middle-age. His name is Billy Baker and he's a journalist and the author of We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends. Billy and I begin our conversation with the problem of male loneliness in the modern age, and how it befell him in his own life. We then discuss how men and women do friendships differently, the way men do theirs shoulder to shoulder, what this means for what male friendships need to be built around, and why they require what he calls “velvet hooks.” Billy shares how he started his project, which experimented with different ways to recover and create connections, by rekindling his old friendships, but why that ultimately didn't scratch the friendship itch for him. Billy then describes what did: a kind of casual fraternity for middle-aged men he started, and how it was inspired by something called the "men’s shed" movement in Australia and its philosophy that men need "somewhere to go, something to do, and someone to talk to." We end our conversation with Billy's takeaways for making friends in adulthood, including the need for embracing intentionality and social risk.

Get the show notes at aom.is/makefriends.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jaksot(1158)

Undoing Urgency — How to Stop Drowning in Tasks and Start Living With Purpose

Undoing Urgency — How to Stop Drowning in Tasks and Start Living With Purpose

Feeling overwhelmed by an endless to-do list? Like you're constantly putting out fires but never getting ahead? You're not alone. Many people today feel like they're drowning in urgency — filling ever...

9 Joulu 202456min

What Sports Betting Is Really Doing to Players, Games, and Fans

What Sports Betting Is Really Doing to Players, Games, and Fans

Sports gambling has exploded in America. You can't watch a game today without being bombarded by ads from betting companies, often co-branded with the major sports leagues themselves. It's a dramatic ...

4 Joulu 202444min

Achieve Peak Performance by Learning to Shift the Gears of Your Mind

Achieve Peak Performance by Learning to Shift the Gears of Your Mind

The Industrial Revolution changed the nature of work, so that many people labored in factories, continuously performing the same task, at the same pace, for the duration of their shift.Two centuries o...

2 Joulu 202450min

Flying, Hosting, Regifting, and More — All Your Holiday Etiquette Questions Answered

Flying, Hosting, Regifting, and More — All Your Holiday Etiquette Questions Answered

In an age where a lot of formalized decorum has vanished, the holidays are still a time with rules, traditions, and unspoken expectations. It's also a time of heightened social interactions and increa...

27 Marras 202453min

Rich Mind vs. Poor Mind — A Psychologist’s Guide to Building Wealth

Rich Mind vs. Poor Mind — A Psychologist’s Guide to Building Wealth

Many people think becoming wealthy is all about having the right job, inheritance, or just lucky breaks. And those things can certainly give you a leg up. But according to my guest, the biggest key to...

25 Marras 202440min

Tribal Runners, Weekend Warriors, and Our Changing Relationship to Endurance Sports

Tribal Runners, Weekend Warriors, and Our Changing Relationship to Endurance Sports

Endurance activities, like distance running, have existed since ancient times. But humans' relationship to those pursuits has changed, according to time and place. In the West, we've currently turned ...

20 Marras 202451min

What's Behind the Rise of Parent-Child Estrangement?

What's Behind the Rise of Parent-Child Estrangement?

These days, you hear more and more about parents and adult children being estranged from each other. Some individuals have even decided to go "no contact" with their parents; they don't want anything ...

18 Marras 202456min

The Art and Spirituality of Bread

The Art and Spirituality of Bread

Think about a hot loaf of bread fresh out of the oven.There's a lot going on with that loaf.On one level, it's a literal food that's been created through chemical processes. A delicious — your mouth m...

13 Marras 20241h 4min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
rss-narsisti
adhd-podi
rss-rahamania
psykologia
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
kesken
rss-valo-minussa-2
ihminen-tavattavissa-tommy-hellsten-instituutti
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-tietoinen-yhteys-podcast-2
leikitaanko-laakaria
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
rss-niinku-asia-on
jari-sarasvuo-podcast
mielipaivakirja
puhutaan-koiraa
rss-rentotapaus