
Don't Quote Us with Al and Val
The Friendship Audit: Are Your Friendships Actually Good for You?
It might be time to audit your friendships. In this episode of Audit August, we’re looking beyond how long you’ve been friends with someone and asking a harder question: How does this friendship actually make me feel? We’re talking about performative friendships, one-sided effort, unspoken competition, and the relationships where you find yourself shape-shifting depending on who you’re around. We break down the difference between friendships that leave you feeling supported and energized versus the ones that consistently leave you feeling drained, insecure, or like you have something to prove. We also get into what it looks like when the effort isn’t equal, how to recognize the difference between a friend who genuinely supports you and one who may be quietly competing with you, and why history alone isn’t always a good enough reason to keep a friendship the same. Consider this your friendship audit: Who gets the real version of you? Who pours back into you? Where are you overextending yourself? And which friendships might need stronger boundaries, a different level of access, or an honest conversation? Because auditing your friendships doesn’t automatically mean cutting people off. Sometimes it means getting honest about what the relationship actually is. In this episode: Performative vs. authentic friendships Shape-shifting and losing yourself in friendships Draining vs. energizing relationships One-sided friendships and unequal effort Supportive friends vs. competitive friends Friendship boundaries and changing levels of access Outgrowing friendships without making someone the villain Questions to ask during your own friendship audit Part of our Audit August series on Don’t Quote Us with Al and Val .

