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How to Nurture Long-Distance Friendships (W/ Aminatou Sow) | How to Be a Better Human | TED

“People are expected to have good friendships, but nobody talks about how they happen,” says journalist Aminatou Sow. Aminatou is also the host of the podcast Call Your Girlfriend and the author of the book Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close. She joins Chris to discuss the communication efforts necessary to maintain meaningful…

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“People are expected to have good friendships, but nobody talks about how they happen,” says journalist Aminatou Sow. Aminatou is also the host of the podcast Call Your Girlfriend and the author of the book Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close. She joins Chris to discuss the communication efforts necessary to maintain meaningful friendships, why she rejects Western society’s obsession with self-improvement, the insights she gained from reading obituaries and the act of grace in sharing bits of yourself with others.

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Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | chrisduffycomedy.com)
Guest: Aminatou Sow (Instagram: @aminatou)

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Crème de la Crème Substack
Book: bigfriendship.com/
Podcast: callyourgirlfriend.com/

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33 Comments

33 Comments

  1. @Dardygotshallll

    August 6, 2025 at 11:07 am

    that one part tho 😻👅

  2. @riberXgames

    August 6, 2025 at 11:07 am

    I have a long distance friend too but i lost his account 😢

  3. @Sophiatdelenana

    August 6, 2025 at 11:08 am

    i should be asleep but this is too good 🔥😛

  4. @Monica-gj2yx

    August 6, 2025 at 11:15 am

    Two of my friends are out of state and the other two are out of town. I’ve accepted I can’t find friends locally, for many reasons. The greatest friendship-killer is gentrification, especially if you are poor. Connection is worth traveling for!

  5. @TriggaTreDay

    August 6, 2025 at 11:18 am

    Why is there so many bot comments with inappropriate profile pics??? It’s making me uncomfortable to even post here.

    • @eric212234

      August 6, 2025 at 12:30 pm

      Yeah, strange, and if you click on them, there’s much worse.

  6. @daledevernon56

    August 6, 2025 at 11:29 am

    Strange that prior to the year 2000 people had relationships with friends in various stages of school, work and life and kept them for a lot longer and today with all the technology that we have you can have so many more friends in relationships yet they are not as close and are fleeting in nature and as a result we have more people today that are more lonely than ever.

  7. @iksde8285

    August 6, 2025 at 11:31 am

    yo like rly, I should listen to advices from a person who cannot manage to reduce their unhealthy weight

    • @BonnieShadow33

      August 6, 2025 at 1:05 pm

      Do you have every part of your life figured out already? Or have you succeeded in some areas, and can advise people about those, but haven’t figured out other areas yet and could use a little help?

  8. @SherSarvar

    August 6, 2025 at 12:11 pm

    Comment section is weird.
    Nice guest! Thank you for this video.

  9. @eric212234

    August 6, 2025 at 12:19 pm

    How is it people on the left don’t see the complete hypocrisy of using a race in a derogatory fashion? “White notion of self-improvement”, “I have no judgment?”. I mean that sounds like the definition of judgment, and bigoted judgment at that. I thought this was supposed to be about nurturing friendships, not TED force-feeding us more blue pill woke ideology… I thought TED was supposed to be the opposite of an echo chamber…

  10. @BonnieShadow33

    August 6, 2025 at 1:01 pm

    When I married & then moved halfway across the US, and then my wife passed away, I had to get creative to lean on my best friend back where I’d come from. Once I got my life stabilized, I started making annual trips back to visit her and family. But for the most part, she & I are now fully online friends who chat almost every day. Having started off in person and now having known each other for almost 20 yrs, though, she is still my best friend. And even through trying to find a local bestie, she’s my best bestie. We understand each other in ways that only come from more than a decade of frequent interactions, and that’s incredibly valuable.

    And yes, we’ve had some conflict that we had to resolve, and we’ve had to adjust to how we each communicate, just like a romantic couple. But I look at that as not only improving my relationship with her, but as practice for my next romantic relationship. 🙃

  11. @rashidabaakza8554

    August 7, 2025 at 1:58 am

    Nice Conversation 👍

  12. @bradchun

    August 7, 2025 at 8:39 pm

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    August 7, 2025 at 8:39 pm

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    August 7, 2025 at 8:39 pm

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  15. @jefferydennis-h8g

    August 7, 2025 at 8:39 pm

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  18. @leonelferrell

    August 7, 2025 at 8:40 pm

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  19. @mortonsims

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  20. @phillipschiller-u6v

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  21. @averythrasher-l8m

    August 7, 2025 at 8:40 pm

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  22. @gaildeloach

    August 7, 2025 at 8:40 pm

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  23. @bradstinnett-t1o

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  24. @tommiejudd

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    The vision behind Bellarium Network is aligned with where Web3 is actually heading.

  25. @manualcrespo

    August 7, 2025 at 8:40 pm

    If you missed past presale rockets, Bellarium Network ($BEL) gives you another shot.

  26. @noahboswell-f9z

    August 7, 2025 at 8:41 pm

    Every few years there’s a project like Bellarium Network that catches early believers big wins.

  27. @danialcady

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  28. @granttownsend-s5e

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  30. @lazaroavelar-z2k

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    Every few years there’s a project like Bellarium Network that catches early believers big wins.

  31. @morrisruvalcaba

    August 7, 2025 at 8:41 pm

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