Are you neglecting your friendships?
In this minisode, Tiffany explores the rejuvenating power of friendships. She shares a few stories about how rekindling friendships has infused her life with joy and energy, highlighting the importance of carving out time for these essential connections amidst our packed schedules. She provides practical tips on how to blend social time with routine activities like jogging or group fitness classes, and underscores the impact of simple gestures of kindness among friends.
This episode inspires listeners to actively make time for friends and reconsider the priority these vital relationships hold in our lives.
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro
[00:01] The value of spending time with friends
[00:40] We forget we need to make time for friends
[01:41] The life-giving power of laughter and friendships
[02:33] Practical tips for incorporating friendships into existing routines
[03:08] The impact of small gestures
Tiffany Sauder [00:00:01]:Welcome to Scared Confident. I'm your host, Tiffany Sauder. When was the last time you spent time with your friends? I'm a little nervous that part of this episode is gonna come across as, like, is she seriously giving me one more thing to do? But I had a chance this past weekend to spend some time with friends, and it was so fun. I met a girlfriend to work out. We went and grabbed some quick breakfast afterwards, and then I had a girlfriend that was in from out of town, and she stood out by my house for, like, an hour. And it was so life giving, you guys. When we get in the season of our lives where we're, like, in the middle of our careers, we're running around like crazy trying to keep up with our kids. We're, like, trying to do all the tasks of life.
Tiffany Sauder [00:00:40]:There are so many of them. That is so true. We can get into this phase where we forget that we need time for friends. And I love people, but actually, when you go and survey me in, I don't know, like, your propensity for things, I am actually not relational, meaning I am more likely to choose my to do list over, remembering to take the time to have people over, which I feel like some of the people listening to this that know me might be kind of surprised that that's the case because I'm very social, but I have to remember to do it. I have to remember to do it. I have to make sure that it's something I keep in front of me because I will more naturally go to making sure that all the tasks are done and it's not good. It was just such a reminder that being with friends without your kids, without your spouse, like, without any role that you're playing, mom or CEO or wife or whatever the role is that you're playing, without a role, just friends, you're just, you. Just a person is so life giving.
Tiffany Sauder [00:01:41]:It's, like, so fun to laugh, so fun to just sort of, like, have a chance to be introspective in your own thoughts and feelings in your life. And I think friends are such a great way to do that. So when I was in, like, the mad season of working so many hours, working really hard, and, like, having young kids, pretty much the only time I saw my friends was when I would run with them, like, really early in the morning. And that was such a great, like, I don't know, what do they call it? Multitasking is silly, but just connecting something I was going to do anyway, like, run and work out and putting, that was something that I wanted to do, which was like, keep up with my friends. It was like that. And church. Those are probably the only two places I really saw my friends with any consistency. So figure out how you can take this idea of maintaining your friendships into something that you're already doing or going to do so that it doesn't become like another thing.
Tiffany Sauder [00:02:33]:Not that you have to do, but just that you have to find time for, because it's so very, very hard. So, anyway, this is just your reminder. Friends are so important. And I remember one of the things that I don't know if she even knows this was so meaningful to me, but one of my friends did. I was going through really hard season at work. I had some really tough decisions that I had already decided to make, and I needed to execute those over the course of the week. It was just, like, so hard. And she brought me over a kombucha and a little container of smoked salmon on some cream cheese and some amazing crackers.
Tiffany Sauder [00:03:08]:It was like a little snack. And something about that made me feel, like, so seen and so special and so, like somebody cares about me. So if you have a friend who's in one of those seasons where it's just bonkers, I think I can go to this thing where it has to be like a big fruit basket with pears wrapped in special foil or something, like, over the top. And it really doesn't take them, like, a leftover enchilada and say, I thought that you might want to eat this for lunch tomorrow. I just think as a mom, as a woman, sometimes you cannot be seen. And I don't think it's even that. I think it's like any of us when we're in charge, when you're leaders, get to the spot where, like, you don't feel like anybody cares about your own needs, and you're, like, dying inside. So that's it.
Tiffany Sauder [00:03:55]:Make some time for friends. Go look at your calendar, and over the next two weeks, find a time where you can go laugh with a friend. The other thing I do, I have a girlfriend that we try to walk on Friday afternoon, sometimes for, like, an hour. And it's this time of the week where it's like, there's not usually meetings on Friday afternoons and the kids aren't home and the weekend hasn't started yet. So find these little slivers of time. Little slivers of time where you can make sure friends stay in the forefront. So. All right.
Tiffany Sauder [00:04:21]:Hope you're having a great week. And remember, we do not let fear decide what happens in our lives. We do. Thanks for listening. Thank you for joining me on another episode of scared confident. Until next time, keep telling fear. You will not decide what happens in my life. I will.
