Shasta Nelson

With the constant connectivity of today’s world, it’s never been easier to meet people and make new friends—but it’s never been harder to form meaningful friendships. In Frientimacy, award-winning speaker Shasta Nelson shows how anyone can form stronger, more meaningful friendships, marked by a level of trust she calls “frientimacy.” Shasta explores the ten most common complaints and conflicts facing female friendships today, and lays out strategies for overcoming these pitfalls to create deeper, supportive relationships that last for the long-term. Shasta is the founder of girlfriendcircles.com, a community of women seeking stronger, more fulfilling friendships, and the author of Friendships Don’t Just Happen. In Frientimacy, she teaches readers to reject the impulse to pull away from friendships that aren’t instantly and constantly gratifying. With a warm, engaging, and inspiring voice, she shows how friendships built on dedication and commitment can lead to enriched relationships, stronger and more meaningful ties, and an overall increase in mental health. The Intimacy Gap is more than just a call for deeper connection between friends; it’s a roadmap for moving from friendship to frientimacy—and the meaningful and satisfying relationships that come with it.

How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness

Frientimacy

This essential go-to guide reveals how women can enhance their lives by creating valuable friendships in today’s busy, mobile world, from nationally recognized friendship expert and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com. Every woman is searching for a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. Many realize the significant role that an intimate, tightly knit circle of friends plays in creating a more fulfilling life, but with hectic schedules, frequent moves, and life changes, it’s more important than ever for women to establish natural, meaningful friendships that will contribute to their overall wellbeing. In Friendships Don’t Just Happen!, Shasta Nelson, friendship expert and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com, reveals the most important proven steps, processes, and secrets vital to establishing the five different levels of friendships, or Circles of Connectedness, that women—no matter their age or relationship status—are longing for in today’s stressful and mobile culture. This revolutionary, engaging guide will also benefit women who already feel rooted to fabulous friends, with insightful principles that will help them maintain and enhance their current friendships. Full of practical how-to tips, fun activities, guiding questions, and step-by-step instructions, Friendships Don’t Just Happen! highlights several areas of developing lasting friendships, teaching women how to: Evaluate their current circle of friends Recognize what types of friends they are seeking based on career, interests, location, and relationship status Create a prioritized friendship action plan Find extraordinary friends—where to look and how to approach them Take initiative to jumpstart friendships and face fears of rejection Establish “frientimacy,” trust, and happiness through conversation and activities Maintain meaningful friendships and determine which ones are worthwhile Excerpt from Friendships Don't Just Happen: There is a lie out there that real friendship just happens. When I was new to San Francisco eight years ago, I remember standing at a café window on Polk Street watching a group of women inside, huddled around a table laughing. Like the puppy dog at the pound, I looked through the glass, wishing someone would pick me to be theirs. I had a phone full of far-flung friends’ phone numbers, but I didn’t yet know anyone I could just sit and laugh with in a café. It hit me how very hard the friendship process is. I’m an outgoing, socially comfortable woman with a long line of good friendships behind me. And yet I stood there feeling very lonely. And insecure. And exhausted at just the idea of how far I was from that reality. I knew I couldn’t just walk in there and introduce myself to them. “Hi! You look like fun women, can I join you?” I would have been met with stares of pity. No one wants to seem desperate, even if we are. We don’t have platonic pick-up lines memorized. Flirting for friends seems creepy. Asking for her phone number like we’re going to call her up for a Saturday night date is just plain weird. All the batting of my eyelashes wasn’t going to send the right signals. And so I turned away from the scene of laughter and walked away. No, unfortunately, friendships don’t just happen. We Value Belonging Friendships may not happen automatically, but what we crave about them sure seems to! We all want to belong—that need to be connected to others is an inherent desire. We live our entire lives trying to fit in, be known, attract acceptance, and experience intimacy. We desperately want to have others care about us. This book is about that hunger. And more pointedly, it is about listening to it and learning how to fulfill it.

The Guide to Creating a Meaningful Circle of Girlfriends

Friendships Don't Just Happen!

Many professionals experience loneliness, an epidemic that has a significant impact on their health and careers. Friendship expert Shasta Nelson shows how we can develop meaningful, lasting friendships where we spend the majority of our time--at work. Since the 1980s, the rate of loneliness among adults has doubled from 20% to 40%. Loneliness has been proven not only to contribute to health issues and unhappiness, but also to impact workplace productivity, employee retention, innovation, and the company's profitability. Research has shown that loneliness in the workplace can lead to an increase of absenteeism by nearly 37%, and a 16% decrease in profitability with a 65% decrease in share price over time. By not encouraging workplace friendships, companies and managers are missing out on a crucial opportunity to foster an inclusive and engaging environment where employees are more likely to want to spend the majority of their time. Rather than losing productivity, workplaces where friendships are encouraged create more opportunities for collaboration and teamwork. Employees are also losing out. Not only are they passing up the opportunity to foster friendships that will follow them long after the job is over, but they are missing out on collaborative experiences and networking opportunities that could lead to landing better and high-profile projects that are more likely to result in promotions and better career opportunities. But it doesn't have to be this way. Friendship expert Shasta Nelson inspires readers to see why friendship is crucial to their health and their careers, and teaches them how to develop the healthy and appropriate friendships that can benefit them and their organizations. Through her research and practical guidance, she Teaches the 3 Relationship Requirements necessary in all friendships and teams Helps managers and employees assess the health of their relationships and learn ways to repair and improve them Provides guidelines and principles for all relationships, including those with our bosses, toxic coworkers, and potential romantic attractions Friendships are a powerful tool that can be employed for businesspeople to find the success they have dreamed of and for companies to build productive workplaces with dedicated employees.

Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time

The Business of Friendship

It is virtually impossible to feel connected and supported in life when you don’t feel that way where you spend most of our time—at work. In The Business of Friendship, friendship expert Shasta Nelson unpacks the distinct ways we can make work relationships the healthiest they can be, both for the sake of the employee and the mission of the company. She inspires readers to see why friendship is crucial to our health and our careers, and teaches us exactly how to develop the supportive and meaningful connections we need. Our organizations benefit as friendships at work result in higher levels of workplace productivity, employee retention, safety, innovation, collaboration, and profitability. In having a best friend at work, we are seven times more engaged in our job, which translates to better customer service, less absenteeism, fewer workplace accidents, and more loyalty to our organizations. Through Shasta’s stories, research, and practical guidance, she: Breaks down what creates healthy bonds and reveals the 3 requirements necessary in all healthy relationships and teams. Helps managers and employees assess the health of their relationships and learn ways to repair and improve them. Provides advice for addressing some of the biggest fears around workplace friendships, such as increased drama, favoritism, confidentiality, gossip, toxic coworkers, relationship with bosses, and potential romantic attractions. The Business of Friendship is for those who are ready to maximize the two most significant factors of our wellbeing—career and relationships. Whether you are a leader or an employee, when you feel more connected and supported at work, everyone wins.

Shasta Nelson

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