Ep 01: (Part 1) I Thought We'd Grow Old Together | Elle James & Michelle Mackenzie

Rachel Joy Swardson thought losing her best friend was rare. Then she met content creator Shameless Elle and discovered they shared a surprisingly similar story. For nearly a decade, Elle believed she'd already found her person, the friend she'd call in a crisis, celebrate life's wins with, and grow old beside. Then one difficult decision changed everything, and the friendship ended. In this candid conversation, Rachel and Elle talk about friendship breakups, losing the woman you thought would always be there, and the unexpected loneliness that follows when your social world is built around one person.But they also talk about what comes next. Because sometimes the friendships that change your life aren't the ones you lose. They're the ones you didn't see standing beside you all along.In This Episode:• The friendship breakup that changed the course of Elle's life • Why losing a best friend can feel as painful as a divorce • The danger of making one person your entire social world • How friendship loss can shake your confidence and identity • The surprising people who were waiting in the wings all along • What Rachel and Elle learned after losing the friendships they thought would last foreverConnect with Shameless Elle:Instagram: @ShamelessElle https://shamelesselle.comComing Up Next:Elles best friend Michelle @lifeofawidow joins the conversation in Part 2 to share how an unlikely friendship between three women became a lifeline during some of the hardest times of their lives.About The Best Friend PodcastThe Best Friend Podcast is where original friendship research meets real-life stories. Host Rachel Joy Swardson, founder of The Best Friend Project, investigates how women find, make, lose, and keep the platonic loves of their lives through original research, personal experience, and candid conversations. Learn more, take the survey, and share your friendship story at TheBestFriendProject.co.To learn more, visit The Best Friend Project.co . While you're there, discover your Friendship Archetype by taking the  Friendship Survey We'd also love to stay in touch—come say hello on Instagram  and Facebook (we will follow you back!)  If you need to reach us, you can always email us at [email protected]: 0:00 Opening — "I thought we'd grow old together"1:00 Welcome to The Best Friend Project2:00 How Rachel Found Elle (and What She Saw in That Instagram Post)3:00 Elle's Best Friend Breakup — Nine Years, Then Silence5:00 The Moment That Ended Everything: A Crisis and a Phone Call7:00 What It Feels Like to Lose Your "One Person"9:00 How Elle Started Saying Yes to Friendship Again11:00 Reflection: Was That Friendship Even Healthy?13:00 Hiding Your Joy to Protect Your Friend's Feelings15:00 Grieving a Friendship While Honoring the Good in It16:00 How Elle Met Stephanie and Michelle17:00 Three Women, Shared Grief, and a Friendship Born of Necessity19:00 When Friendship Hits a Threshold — And You Have to Decide21:00 Healthier Friendships Were There All Along22:00 "I Thought I Only Needed One Friend" — On Codependency and Letting People In24:00 The Story of Michelle's Car — What True Friendship Looks Like27:00 How Michelle Teaches Elle to Be a Better Friend28:00 Michelle Joins the Conversation — Stay Tuned for Part 2#TheBestFriendProject #FriendshipBreakup #WomenAndFriendship #FemaleFriendship #BestFriendBreakup #MakingFriendsAsAnAdult #FriendshipHealingSupport the show