The worst thing a friend ever did to me

Today I found myself recalling an old wound – one I hadn’t thought about in years.

A client told me, tearfully, about how hurt she is over having lost a childhood friend several years ago.

Her friend didn’t die. She stopped responding to her.  With no explanation.Which got me thinking about a time in my life when that happened to me.

It happened twice, actually. A decade apart.

Both times a ‘best friend’ left me swimming in unanswered questions because she lacked the integrity to prioritize our relationship over the momentary discomfort she would have to endure to tell me what I’d done (or failed to do) in the relationship. 

I’m going to tell you one of those stories and I’m going to use her real name because frankly, since she couldn’t be bothered to say goodbye, I can’t be bothered to think of a pseudonym.

Read More

What My Assistant Taught Me About Communication – Personal

I don’t expect professional relationships to work effortlessly – particularly when they’re mine.

I say that because, as a relationship expert, I encourage the people I work with to check in with me about how our relationship is going. And I remind them to do it pretty often.

The result, not surprisingly, is that every couple of months, I find myself on the receiving end of ‘feedback.’ 

I place ‘feedback’ in proverbial air quotes since it generally makes me cringe – because although my fantasy involves my phone blowing up with declarations of how amazing I am to work with, the reality of those conversations generally plays out differently.  Click here to see how my ‘feedback’ generally goes.

Read More