Archive for December, 2008
A Friendship Too Broken To Fix?
A friendship may be too broken to fix if it is consistently disappointing and unsatisfying. Friendships should be additive to our lives. QUESTION Dear Irene, Nicole and I met soon after each of us moved to a new town and we hit it off immediately. We were both adrenaline junkies, partners in crime who enjoyed […]
Reader Q & A: Escape from a toxic mentor
QUESTION Dear Irene, Never thought I’d write but… years ago, when I started my current career, I was befriended by an older woman. She and I bonded and have become very, very close over the years. In the past few years, though, I’ve started to think of her as "toxic" – she’s very negative […]
Leaving a friend behind
QUESTION: Dear Irene, I was recently made redundant, had been working in a high powered job and decided to move to a different county to explore what it is i actually want to do, have been volunteering to discover, anyway my closest friend whom i’ve been friends with for over 10 years has hardly […]
Wisdom from Whitney: Rx for being a less needy friend
I recently received this post from a reader named Whitney that I thought was worth sharing. Whitney was fortunate to have a good friend—who gave her honest feedback about her neediness— without making Whitney feel totally hurt or bent out of shape. Whitney also seems to have a fair degree of insight into her own […]
Reader Q &A: Should breaking up be a blame game?
QUESTION Dear Irene: When you break up with a female friend, is it really necessary to "give advice" about what they should do in the future, or is it better to focus on the problems within the relationship you were personally involved with? I just got dumped by a friend who went on […]
Women Who Bicker Over Books
A recent article in the New York Times, Fought Over Any Good Books Lately? by Joanne Kaufman, recounted the story of a woman named Jocelyn Bowie, who was invited to join a book club shortly after she moved back to Indiana. She had hoped she could find a sisterhood of women in the group with whom […]
Reader Q & A: Mean Girls
QUESTION Hi Dr. Levine, It’s been about 5 months since I broke up with my boyfriend due to conflicting schedules, frequent disagreements and life stresses. This guy was friends with my ex-girlfriend for over 15 years and I was friends with her for 10 years. He took me to this party and I had no […]
My Christmas Bailout: An Open Letter to My Friends
Here are my top ten reasons for opting out of Christmas this year. I’ve clarified my priorities so I won’t be in the position of begging for an economic bailout after the holidays. 1) I’m reducing my carbon footprint and saving gas by not going to the malls or ordering by mail, and I’ll save […]
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