402 Recognizing and Escaping Toxic Friendships

Today I am joined by my dear friend Michelle Ferriss, a licensed marriage family therapist. She's been on the podcast two other times because she's awesome! Her area of expertise is on dealing with codependency, how to escape narcissistic relationships and overcoming anger issues. 

In this episode, we're going to talk about toxic friendships, how to know if you're in one, ways to improve them, and steps to take to escape them. This is such an important topic because as we grow, evolve and change, so do the relationships we have. And with people feeling more disconnected and lonelier than ever, we need to know how to make new friends too.

Before we jump in, last week I started a new segment called "I have a question for you!" and the question was "how do you feel about the word Alcoholic?"

On Instagram, one person wrote: "It took a while to be able to openly call myself an alcoholic. I attached very negative and generalized connotations to it until I identified it. Now, I embrace it because it was crucial to me getting sober."

Another wrote: I think it keeps people that are sober curious from stepping fully into their sobriety because they think they have to call themselves an Alcoholic . In our society it has a negative connotation. They do not picture the soccer mom at the park with wine in her yeti cup who is still suffering. So, whatever you need to call it . The most important thing is that you don't have to label it at all. You can make a decision based on the results you're getting from drinking alcohol."

Thank you all who wrote in!

I think the big take away here is that it's all perspective based on the information you have or don't have. In the end, take what you like, and leave the rest.

This week's question it tied to the topic of this episode, which is: "Can you still be friends with your old drinking or using friends after you're sober?" Let me know what you think on instagram @arlinaallen    

So without further delay, please enjoy this episode, and let me know what you think!

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