On Reconnecting With Old Friends: What It Reveals About Who We Are Now

Two years ago, she saw me full of hope but standing in the middle of my life falling apart (starting a divorce, without a job, and only at the very beginning of my coaching journey). Last week, she saw me now: confident, grounded, excited about the business I’m building and the clients who are choosing to work with me. Sometimes the distance between those versions of ourselves becomes visible only when someone who knew the “before” walks back into our “after.”

We met at a juice shop on Broadway, tucked into a table with the city buzzing around us. She reminded me of something she once told me three years ago, when we first connected: every six months she takes a day to put everything on the table (her relationship, her work, her life) to make sure she’s still where she wants to be. And the rest of the time, she just goes for it. No overthinking, no circling the same questions for months. Just clarity, decisions, forward motion.

As we sat there after two years apart, reflecting on how much our lives had changed, both of us having done the work, shed old layers, built new ones, I felt something shift. There’s a real power in stepping back long enough to see the arc of your own evolution. It’s like zooming out on your life and finally recognizing the shape it’s taking.

There’s also a unique comfort in talking to someone who has a hundred ideas a minute, just like you. She offered perspectives on growth (her zone of genius) and I offered her insights on personal development, boundaries, and transforming old patterns into new ones. We ended up coaching each other without even naming it. By the time we hugged goodbye, we both had homework: podcasts to listen to, books to explore, ideas to experiment with. I walked away feeling more energized and clear, almost like I had just spoken to my own coach.

But what stayed with me most was how I felt in that moment: proud, supported, and deeply connected. I love being around strong entrepreneurs, especially women, but honest conversations like this, the kind where you can share both wins and wounds, feel rare and precious. They remind me why having a “village” matters. Why inspiration is contagious. Why we rise higher when the people around us rise too.

Entrepreneurship can trick you into doing everything alone, but none of us grow in isolation. We become the average of the five people we spend the most time with, and when those five are brave, thoughtful, curious, and evolving, you can’t help but expand alongside them.

Sitting across from her, seeing who she had become and feeling who I’ve become, I understood something quietly profound:

Sometimes it takes an old friend to show you the newest version of yourself.

Reconnecting doesn’t just remind us of where we were, it reveals who we are now. And who we’re becoming next.

Call to Action
Make a list of the five people you spend the most time with. What do they bring to your life, and how do they influence who you’re becoming?

Reflective Question
When was the last time someone reminded you who you really are?