Radha Agrawal

I was in sports bars watching football, drinking beer that I didn't want to drink and trying to be cool and relevant and hanging out with what I thought society sort of deemed as cool, like going to clubs and getting drunk and blacking out all the time because I'm Asian and I can't handle my liquor.

And, and then at 30 years old, I woke up and I had this like, whoa, aha moment where I was just like, what have I been doing?

Like, who am I?

And that the light in my eyes was dim.

And, and I just could.

I mean, right.

But in this last nine years.

Well, this is the last nine years, right?

Like we totally, and you're such a dear friend now.

And our community is what gives us that life.

And so from 30 to 35, Mickey and I spent all of our effort and time focusing on community.

And I'd create all these exercises for myself.

And in my book, I talk about going in, right?

You have to go in first to belong to yourself.

So often with community building, we're grasping outside of ourselves to find those friends first.

but it really starts with this journey of self-exploration first to get to know who we are, what we value, what we can bring to a community, and how we're showing up, how are we at listening, how are we at connecting with everyone around us.

It's almost like focusing on not only how to find a friend, but how to be a friend.

Yes, that's exactly right.

That's exactly right.

So the first half of my book really challenges the reader in a gentle and loving way