Episode 7

BFF Not Forever | LAYC07

BFFs are meant to stay forever - or maybe not. As we go through life not all friendships are forever and sometimes the end comes before you expect it.

Let’s talk about why that hurts so much and why you feel it even to this day? How do you pick up on those early warning signs before the breakup?

If you move to the end of a relationship and you do not see it coming, how do you work through those emotions? Along with the emotions, what about your shared relationships and activities?

I’ll be walking you through how to move on and move up when a BFF is not forever.

 

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.


Founder:

The Encore Catalyst Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheEncoreCatalyst )

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

 

Thank You for Listening!

It means so much that you listened to this podcast! If you know of anyone else who might find this show valuable or entertaining, please share it on your favorite social media platform.

If you have questions about this episode, please send me an email at Hello@TheEncoreCatalyst.com

 

Subscribe to the Podcast

Receive automatic notifications when new podcast episodes are made available.

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with the latest episodes. Links on the sidebar make it easy. Please share if you value the content.

 

Leave a Review

Every bit of feedback offered helps to make this a value-packed part of your week and suggestions are welcome.  

Ratings and reviews from listeners are used to improve the podcast. They also help others find this series in their podcast platform, so reviews are very much appreciated!

Transcript

Welcome back. I'm so glad you're here so that we can pick up where we left off from Episode Six, where we were talking about the myth of work life balance, and why I believe that is a crock of BS.

I share my thoughts on how we as women have been set up to achieve try to achieve this balance. That is impossible, because we have a personal life filled with all kinds of aspirations and goals and responsibilities and complexities and relationships. And we have a professional life, where again, all of the same factors are involved. Yet, the truth is, we only have one, one a whole life as a woman to live.

And how when we stand back and look at it from that perspective, and realize that we're the only one who can decide how we apportion our energy, and how we allocate the time and the attention in those two areas. That's how we design and direct the ideal life that we want, the one that we desire, the one that we deserve.

So I like to talk to you more about that, because I have had decades of learning and failing, and learning and failing, and learning and failing on how to create a whole cohesive life, as a working mother, as a working wife, as a business owner, as a grandmother, as a serial wife. We'll talk about that in another episode! And as a serial entrepreneur - coming back to that again later, we'll definitely do that.

And I'd love to hear your experiences around how you figure it out that magic formula to create the right balance in your life. And when things get off balance, out of kilter, how to get them back.

I also indicated that at the end of Episode Six that I was going to talk about one of the aspects of achieving balance or restoring balance for me is my BFFs; Best Friends Forever. And if you've followed me at all, you know that vitamin G is what I describe as the most important supplement for my health, that's “G” for girlfriends - Vitamin G, and that I know how critically important it is for all of us to be very conscious about the circle that we gather around us, the friends that we choose, that we curate, and network and nurture, and how important that is to the success of our personal and professional happiness and wellbeing.

That's the positive upside of it all. There are always some other sides. You know, as my friend Jackie Ulmer of Street Smart Wealth says, life is 50/50. There's the good and the bad, the Ying and the Yang. And most of the time in my life and I have been blessed to have amazing BFFs over my six plus decades, who I credit for making me the woman that I am today. But a couple of times, a few times in my life, I have found out sadly, that the relationship I considered as one of my treasured BFFs, wasn't at all, and that she wasn't intended to be in my life at all, or for long, or forever.

I also want to share my observation around why does that hurt so much? Why does it feel even to this day a little tough to talk about, and to talk about and admit publicly that I have been dumped? I have been kicked to the curb. I have been used and abused by a few people that I thought were true friends. And why didn't I see that coming?

And when I started - if I'm honest with myself - to see the signs, to get the warning indicators, to see some clues, that this wasn't the relationship that I deserved to have in my life, why didn't I take charge and bring that relationship to a close? Before I was the one who got dumped? Why did she break up with me first?

Well, and maybe, just because I am so gosh, darn determined to make it all work. And that positivity runs, there's a thick vein of that, through my whole body. And people tease me of being Pollyanna and the Chief Cheerleading Officer, and I think, “You know what, if we just try, we're going to get through this!”

I have a lot of grace for people who are going through difficult times in their own lives, to, you know, give them a couple of free passes for a while. But there does come a point, as an intelligent adult, that you have to say, “This is not for me to fix. This is not for me to tolerate. And this is not the relationship that I deserve.”

So if you are feeling that you are in a friendship, where there are indicators that those are the situation for you, then I encourage you to check back with me and what we'll talk about later, how to bring closure to a relationship in a way that is sensitive and kind to both sides, but successful in closing that relationship.

So for me, the observation has been that having been divorced several times, (that's in my book by the way) that in in the breakdown of a marriage or romantic relationship, there's a period of time almost like pre-grieving process. I guess, where as they “the blush goes off the bloom”, where you start to fall out of love with each other, you begin to see the flaws, you escalate your irritation factor, you begin to build your justifications of why this relationship cannot continue, will not be able to overcome whatever is the issues between you. And that it would be a better, no matter how painful it feels at the moment, but that it would be better for all concerned, if you terminate the relationship, wish each other well and move on in your lives.

That is a process, and it takes time. And it's certainly a way that I think that you can come to terms and to do some of the work that you need to do to wish that relationship Adieu.

In the case of my BFF relationships, where I have been divorced by a girlfriend. I didn't want to see that that romance was over. And I mean the romance in that I admire them for their capabilities and for their, you know, their aspirations or their leadership in growth and professional and personal development. And that I really thought our friendship was based on mutual trust and admiration and the desire to “Lift As We Climb with each other.

So that's why I feel it was such a blow for me when I didn't see the signs at all, because they were so clearly hidden or perhaps, maybe I wasn't invested enough in the friendship.

I haven't thought about that till just now. Perhaps, I should go back and examine where I was in that friendship. Perhaps I really was already abdicating my responsibilities as a BFF myself. But to come to the end of a relationship and not be able to, to give closure and say, that was great. The time that we had together, I'm sorry, that you felt that you had to end our relationship in such a cold manner, calculating manner, instead of just having a chat with me and saying that you have other friends that are more appropriate and more supportive for where you are in your own life right now. And that although we'll be friends, we just won't be BFF's and to wish me success.

So, ladies, I don't know if I have this figured out yet. I'm still working on it. But I can tell you that in thinking about this, I have realized that I felt anger and I felt frustration, I felt grief and I felt sadness. I felt a disconnection because the other aspect of terminating a BFF friendship, just like in a marriage, there are usually shared relationships, shared activities. And in my case, in the one of the examples I'm thinking of, there was some shared mutual business relationships. And that made it a little extra awkward. So, I'm going to leave this kind of open for your thoughts and when you are ready, please give me some comments and feedback. And let's pick this up and talk about it further and see if we can't come up with a good process to help us move on and move up to new and better BFFs when one is no longer forever.

Thank you. Get out there and love your girlfriends. Bye

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Seasoned Women Serious Business
Seasoned Women Serious Business
Wise Enough to Want More

About your host

Profile picture for Isabel Alexander

Isabel Alexander

Dynamic, self-made entrepreneur who overcame obstacles with an unrelenting positive nature, a farm girl work ethic and a conscious choice to thrive rather than survive, Isabel Alexander Banerjee cultivated an award winning, $10 million+ global chemical wholesale business and grew it from dining room table to international boardrooms.

Isabel’s strengths include the ability to initiate & nurture strategic relationships, a love of lifelong learning and talents for helping others maximize their potential. An inspiring speaker within both industry and community, she is a driving force behind those with the courage to follow her example of thriving against the odds.

With 50+ years of business experience across diverse industries, Isabel is respected as an advisor, a coach, a mentor and a role model. She believes in sharing collective wisdom and empowering others to economic independence.

Isabel Alexander
Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst