How to make – and keep – friends

Friendship is vital for our health and happiness, but we don’t always prioritize it. The Optimist’s Maggie Penman goes on a journey to make new friends and learn why so many of us are craving connection. Today’s show was produced by Maggie Penman, with help from Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Allison Klein. For more stories from The Optimist,

You can listen to How to make – and keep – friends online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How to make – and keep – friends is an episode from Post Reports by The Washington Post.

This episode is 25:29 long.

This episode was published on Jan 19, 2026.

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