Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Give It To Me Straight
Episode: 74 – "Giving you distant friends, affairs, and seasons of life"
Hosts: Alex & Jon
Release Date: October 21, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode finds Alex and Jon navigating the “seasons of life,” focusing on how friendships, relationships, and even pet relationships evolve as you enter new life stages—especially parenthood. Through unfiltered advice and candid listener Q&A, the couple explores boundaries, expectations, friendship drift, infidelity, and the challenges (and comic relief) of new parent life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Coping with New Parenthood (00:00 – 10:30)

• Sibling & Pet Dynamics: Both hosts joke about feeling less patient toward their dog after their baby’s arrival, comparing it to what parents of multiple kids feel toward older siblings.
  • “Does your toddler annoy the fuck out of you just how a dog does, you know, like you've already hung out with that one?” (00:00, Alex)
• Marital Bickering – Podcast Edition: Playful banter about the show’s title and each other’s fashion sense.
• Disaster Preparedness (or Lack Thereof): After a storm warning, they realize they’re woefully unprepared for emergencies.
  • Hilarious tale of Jon failing to find the flashlight, leading to a $46 “emergency” purchase, only for Alex to find the original in seconds. (05:02–05:40)
  • “I opened the closet, found it in two seconds on the floor.” (05:40, Alex)
• Realization: The hosts admit they lack basic survival skills and joke about being first to go in an apocalypse.

2. Physical Strength & Parenthood (07:15 – 09:00)

• Jon laments lacking “functional strength,” even after regular workouts, struggling with baby gear and feeling bested by Alex’s endurance.
  • “Functional. Strength. Not there. None. Zero. You’re stronger than me. You look good though.” (08:27, Jon)

3. Adjustment in Dog-Pet Relationships Post-Baby (09:00 – 10:39)

• They recount how their beloved dog Kobe now sometimes feels like an exhausting afterthought, eliciting guilt and humor.
  • “It just feels like extra work. But...he’s just such a sweet angel.” (10:09, Alex)

4. Seasons of Life & Shifting Friendships (24:50 – 26:22, 33:24–36:12)

• Alex and Jon discuss how friendships often change as people move into different life phases—marriage, parenthood, career changes, or experiencing loss.
  • “Everyone is in different seasons of life...it can impact your friendships in different ways.” (25:06, Alex)
  • “Comparison is the thief of joy.” (25:41, Jon)
• Notion that when people appear to be “crushing it” in one domain, another area is likely suffering—a reference to Shonda Rhimes.
  • “If you see me succeeding in one area of my life, you could almost be sure that I’m failing in another.” (26:29, Alex paraphrasing Shonda Rhimes)

5. Listener Q&A: Honest, Unfiltered Advice

A. Distant Friends, Missed Announcements, and Hurt Feelings (31:25–33:24)

• Scenario: A listener is hurt they found out about their best friend’s pregnancy via social media.
  • Advice: “Don’t dig too deep unless you know she told other people before you. Sometimes big announcements just come all at once.” (32:26, Alex)

B. Draining Friendships (33:45–35:09)

• Scenario: A friend never reciprocates in conversation, making hangouts exhausting.
  • Advice: “If you don't leave an interaction thinking 'that filled my cup', why keep saying yes?” (34:18, Alex)

C. Affairs & Secret Relationships (36:27–38:48)

• Scenario: Listener’s ex-girlfriend, now pregnant by another, rekindles secret contact.
  • Advice: “Why do you even want her back in your life? Have higher standards for yourself.” (38:14, Alex)
  • “Get even, get even, and then have a higher standard. Break her heart. Break both their hearts.” (38:28–38:35, Jon & Alex banter)

D. Friends Disliking Significant Others (39:50–43:02)

• Scenario: A friend refuses to allow a boyfriend at her engagement due to rumors.
  • Advice: Explore if this is about just one incident, underlying patterns, or jealousy. Take inventory and consider both friends' perspectives.

E. Keeping Someone Else’s Friendship Alive (45:42–48:04)

• Scenario: A wife keeps her husband’s friendship alive via text, and wonders if the lack of response is suspect.
  • Advice: “It’s not your job to keep your husband’s friendships alive. Let it die.” (48:04, Alex)

F. Child-Free Weddings & Friendship Boundaries (48:04–51:57)

• Scenario: Maid of honor at friend’s wedding, but excluded her child while others’ kids can come. Hostility and guilt ensues.
  • Advice: “Step down as maid of honor if you can’t meet expectations. Set your boundaries and communicate them.” (50:18, Alex)

G. Work Drama & Sketchy Coworkers (54:43–56:03)

• Scenario: A coworker behaves inappropriately, badmouthing his fiancée and trying to set up gym meetups.
  • Advice: “Don’t get involved. Distance yourself. Let the truth come out on its own.” (56:12, Alex)

H. Mourning Lost Friend Groups (57:53–61:31)

• Scenario: Listener left a group chat after feeling excluded and was ignored at her own baby shower.
  • Advice: “If you want to repair, YOU need to take the first step. Waiting for them to come to you is a passive move.” (60:09, Alex)

I. When Friends Withdraw: Understanding & Maturity (61:31–64:14)

• Scenario: A once-close friend is now distant due to hard times.
  • Advice: “Don’t take it personally. Everyone deals with life changes differently; just let her know you’re there.” (62:54, Jon & Alex)

J. Grieving and Friendship Drift After Loss (64:38–68:00)

• Scenario: After a stillbirth, a listener’s best friend grew distant and didn’t know how to support her.
  • Insight: “People who haven’t gone through it, don’t know how to show up. Communicate what you need, and consider that your friend is following your lead.” (66:05, Alex)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Survival Skills:
  “We would be the first to go if there was a natural disaster.” (04:38, Alex)
• On Food Placebos:
  “The ordered food is going to taste so much better than the food we made.” (17:38, Jon)
• On Shifting Friend Circles:
  “Are you so willing to let go of this group if you don’t want to?...If you want to repair it, you need to be the one to reach out.” (58:56–59:45, Alex)
• On Marriage and Accountability:
  “People show you who they are early on, and I totally understand giving chances…but, are you just going to stick with it because you made a vow? If that’s what you want, don’t complain.” (54:06, Alex)

Pop Culture & Humor

• Halloween & TV Discussion (20:02–23:47):

  • Talk about favorite spooky shows (like “Is It Cake? Halloween Edition” and “Monster”) and the nostalgia of rewatching “Jersey Shore.”
  • “That was a cultural movement. But I don't know, before the hospital, we were just like, let's just watch a few episodes.” (23:00, Alex)

• Vivid Honesty on Parenthood and Pets:

  • Secret confession:
    “My dog, whom I once loved before having kids, now feels like my worst enemy. I just want my dog to die of old age so I can focus on the kids.” (68:36, listener submission)
  • Jon and Alex react with humor and guilt, sharing a sentimental dog story and reflecting on changing family bonds.

• Closing Recommendations (70:27–72:47):

  • Alex recommends “Dancing with the Stars,” while Jon extols the virtues of frozen fire-roasted veggies from Costco—interrupted by the dog’s “noxious farts.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Topic | Time | |---------|-------|------| | A | Newborn vs. pet/older sibling irritations | 00:00–01:14 | | B | Podcast banter on the show's title | 01:15–02:40 | | C | Disaster preparedness & flashlight saga | 04:38–05:40 | | D | Realizations on strength, baby gear | 07:15–09:00 | | E | Mourning the loss of dog-pet relationship | 09:00–10:39 | | F | Shifting friendships & “seasons of life” | 24:50–26:22 | | G | Listener questions: excluded from announcements | 31:25–33:24 | | H | Draining, one-sided friendships | 33:45–35:09 | | I | Toxic exes and affairs | 36:27–38:48 | | J | Friends hating significant others | 39:50–43:02 | | K | Child-free weddings & mom guilt | 48:04–51:57 | | L | Mourning friendship group loss | 57:53–61:31 | | M | Friendship after tragedy/loss | 64:38–68:00 | | N | Pet confessions | 68:36–70:02 |

Tone & Language

• Conversational, humorous, and occasionally irreverent.
• Willing to call out listeners and themselves on questionable behaviors with equal parts honesty and empathy.
• Unfiltered, dropping f-bombs and telling real stories from the trenches of new parenthood.

Overall Takeaways

• Relationships and friendships morph—as life changes, expectations must evolve too.
• Honest communication and self-respect are at the core of healthy boundaries and reconciliation.
• The couple demonstrates how humor and candor can lighten the load of life’s more stressful seasons, and they encourage their audience to drop guilt and lead with vulnerability—to themselves, their friends, and their pets (even the irritating ones).

End of summary.