Rhaina Cohen: Center Friendship and Thrive

Simplify

You know a magical connection when you feel it—that undeniable magnetism that pulls you together for a fit that's as much like home as it is an adventure. We see these sorts of connections in romcoms all the time, but they're not just relegated to the romcom realm. Magical connections happen in friendships, too, and Rhaina Cohen wants to dignify them.

This conversation with the writer and NPR Embedded producer/editor draws on some key stories and insights from her new book: The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center. Caitlin and Rhaina talk about why it can be beautiful and beneficial to distribute the "significant other" title across many people, what it looks like to treat friendships more like life partnerships, the friendship tradition and where we might have lost passionate platonic significant otherships, and the important work of letting the ones who love us see our mess.

In the Bookend, Ben and Caitlin discuss friendship, awkwardly thank each other for their friendship, and make further learning and reading recs. And thank you, listeners, for bein' a friend. :)

Caitlin's Rec: Rituals Roadmap by Erica Keswin
Ben's Rec: Caitlin's Guide on Adult Friendship and The Lonely Century by Noreena Hertz
Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to [https://www.blinkist.com/simplify\][2], tapping on Try Blinkist at the top right, and entering the code friendship.

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or just come say hi! Find Caitlin on instagram at @cschills https://www.instagram.com/cschills/[2], Ben at @bsto https://twitter.com/bsto [3]. You can write us all an email at [e-mail] [4].

This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, Maria Levacic & Stéphane Obadia at Blinkist