The Friendship Blog Is Back! Welcome!
Welcome back to The Friendship Blog!
For ten years, this blog was a unique space on the web where people of all ages could solicit advice, and talk about the tricky dilemmas entailed in making and keeping friends. After 2200 blog posts that elicited some 30,000 reader comments, I had to close down the site in June 2017, now almost three years ago. I was stretched too thin with other writing commitments, mostly related to travel writing.
However, my world and yours has changed markedly over the course of just the last few months. I live in Westchester County, one of New York State’s COVID-19’s epicenters and like many of you, I’m sheltered in place at home, depending on family and friends for social sustenance. Being grounded has afforded me a bit more time so I’ve decided to use whatever training and experience I’ve acquired about friendship over the years to relaunch this site.
Now, more than ever, most of us realize how vital friends and social connections are to our well-being. Some of the friendship issues we’ve grappled with in the past, before the pandemic, remain the same. But social distancing, soaring unemployment, increased work-at-home, school closures, and other monumental changes in our lives—including experiencing death and illness among friends, family and neighbors—have thrown a curve ball in making and keeping friends.
With the relaunch, I hope to focus on some of the new, emerging friendship issues as well as the ones that are of perennial interest.
Sharing our stories
On a personal level, I’ve missed interacting with you here and hope you feel the same way, too.
Please return to visit us often both to give and receive advice! Some of the crowd-sourced reader comments received in the past are as valuable (or more) than the initial posts. Please join in.
If you have a friendship dilemma that you think may be interesting and relevant to a wider audience, please send it to me for response on this blog (using the CONTACT link is at the very bottom of this page). While I can’t respond to questions privately, I’ll try to answer as many questions as I can on the blog.
A newsletter update
If you are reading this post online and don’t want to miss future posts, I hope you’ll sign up for the weekly newsletter by entering your email address in the box labeled “advice in your inbox” on the right sidebar of this page.
If you are receiving this post via my Mailchimp Newsletter, it means that at some point in the past you signed up to receive it. I hope that this topic will continue to be of interest to you but I understand that circumstances change over time. If you are no longer interested, just unsubscribe.
I sincerely hope you and you loved ones are healthy and coping as best you can during this challenging time..
Irene
Irene S. Levine, PhD, Producer of The Friendship Blog
Please note: The searchable archive of past posts is also available again as a resource to readers.
Category: How to Use This Site, MAKING FRIENDS
I’m so pleased this blog is back! Friendships can be so rewarding, but so challenging. Looking forward to more insights about these (sometimes thorny) relationships.This is a terrific resource!
Welcome back, Heather!
idk if people are still here in 2022 but im glad this is here for more recent posts 🙂 its real helpful so i can feel comfort knowing im not the only one having like problems or whatnot with friendships. hehe
Love this. How do u handle this pandemic while your friend goes about her business and doesn’t take it seriously. I can’t talk to her now. Should I tell her. 🙏thanks
Thanks, Jo. Will try to answer your question!
So glad you are back. Hope everybody is well.
Thanks, Lotte! xo
Welcome back! So comforting for so many, especially now.
Thanks, Sheryl!
Yes, this is so timely and so necessary–especially now. Thanks much!
Thanks, Irene! xo
Awesome news!! Thanks Irene😊
Yay! So needed right now. Thanks for starting it back up. I’m looking forward to reading the blog again.
I appreciate the support! Best to you, Gail!
Thanks so much, Kathy!
What a pleasant surprise it was to see your newsletter in my inbox today.
So welcome back. *big smile*
What a nice surprise to find this in my inbox! Glad to have it and you back.
Welcome back! I used to read the blog and am very glad to see it up and running again.
Thanks, Elizabeth!
WELCOME BACK!!!
Thank-you for bringing the Friendship Blog back, Irene. It was always one of my favourite places to visit. There were so many amazing women here. I hope everyone will return, so we can all catch up.
In the meantime, I hope everyone is safe and healthy. Xox
So glad to reconnect. We need each other all the more now!
Best, Irene