493. Coaching Hotline: Making Friends as an Adult & The Line Between Honesty and People-Pleasing

493. Coaching Hotline: Making Friends as an Adult & The Line Between Honesty and People-Pleasing

From UnF*ck Your Brain: Feminist Self-Help for Everyone by Kara Loewentheil

May 19, 2026 · 12 min · Episode 493

About this episode

This episode addresses the challenges of making friends as an adult and explores the balance between honesty and people-pleasing.

Making friends as an adult can feel intimidating, especially when it seems like your upbringing didn't give you the skills to navigate social connections. In this Coaching Hotline episode, I answer two listener questions about friendships and social interactions. I explore why it is possible to build friendships while continuing your self-work, and why the story you tell yourself about your friendship skills can keep you stuck. I also tackle the tricky line between honesty and people pleasing. I break down why volunteering opinions that nobody asked for is not automatically people pleasing and why the key is understanding your own motivations behind sharing advice or judgments. This episode will help you distinguish between speaking your truth for yourself and managing your behavior out of concern for others’ approval. Submit your own question here and it might get answered on a future episode: unfuckyourbrain.com/coachinghotline Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: schoolofnewfeministthought.com/493 Follow along on Instagram: instagram.com/karaloewentheil/ Mentioned in this episode: Enroll now in Coach-Curious Prep School In this five-day incubator, you’ll…

People in this episode

Host: Kara Loewentheil

Topics covered

  • making friends as an adult
  • social interactions
  • self-work
  • honesty
  • people pleasing
  • friendship skills

Keywords

  • friendship
  • social skills
  • self-improvement
  • honesty
  • people-pleasing
  • adult friendships
  • self-work

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: unfuckyourbrain.com, schoolofnewfeministthought.com, Coach-Curious Prep School

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