Playing the friendship deck - setting aside time to really be curious with a friend and be present with them - it’s a way we say i love you with actions. 💛 #mentalhealthgiftguide #thefriendshipdeck #conversationgames #healthyfriendships #therapistsontiktok #cardgames #cardgamesoftiktok #supportyourfriends #friendship

Let's talk about a social experience that's super deflating that I think so many of us have had and it's this You go to a social gathering you even hop on a phone call with someone that you love and you get off or you leave the party leave the gathering and you realize like No one asked me a single question and the person just like talked at me Um, that sucks. I want to talk to you about how we can change it. I'm a licensed therapist and friendship educator I also created the friendship deck talk to people all the time about the reality that some of the loneliest Experiences we can have are not when we're just all by ourselves. Certainly those can be lonely Certain like tinge of loneliness that can happen We are when we are in a room full of people and no one is slowing down to ask us questions we're trying to engage with people or maybe we're even really nervous and We're just there and we feel so so alone Attention is something that we don't have a lot of and we're honestly operating in scarcity around it because there Just isn't a lot of time and there's a lot of distractions That asking our friends curious thoughtful questions is a way that we let them know So tangibly and so clearly like I love you I do not assume that I know everything about you And I want to slow down in this wild distracting world to ask you those questions and get to know you better And talk about the parts of our friendship that are good Maybe the parts of our friendship that need more care like that is a way that we get to say. I love you with action um in our friendship Get yourself a friendship deck gather your friends together by friends if you have one beautiful do it long distance amazing It's really helpful To get in the habit of asking our friends curious questions And sometimes that can really scare us because you're like, I don't know what a curious question is Hi, let me do the heavy lifting for you They're literally 62 questions three different levels of increasing vulnerability to do this We're playing this spurs even more questions that you're curious about like, oh my gosh, we just talked about this I want to know about this. Let's ask about this and you go on the most delightful rabbit trail with your friends of getting to know pieces of their heart that you would have never thought to ask if you were just Like sitting down to dinner and like chit-chatting together Maybe but maybe not cultures in our friendships where we are asking curious questions where we are not assuming There's any that you know everything about the friend and that we are saying. I love you Um in actionable ways as giving our friends time space attention And genuine curiosity. I think the world would be better if we did that