When Sarah Swafford first started talking to college students about friendship, it was 2007. They were trying to figure out cellphones, dorm life, emotions, and virtue. Sixteen years later, Sarah is still talking about friendship—and it hasn’t gotten any easier with the rise of social media, smart phones, and a world pandemic.

Sarah fist came on the podcast way back in 2018 to talk about emotions and virtue. She’s back for another conversation about virtue, a brand new book called Gift and Grit that she just wrote with her husband, Swaff, and a deep dive into the topic of friendship, especially as you navigate changing seasons of life.

Whether you’re blessed with an incredible community of friends around you and you want to grow deeper in relationship with them, or you’re starting out in a new season of life and you’re hungry for authentic friendship, sister, this letter is for you. 

Topics we talked about in this episode:

• Sarah’s story as a Catholic woman

• The story behind Gift and Grit: How Heroic Virtue Can Change Your Life and Relationships and what it was like for Sarah to write a book with her husband

• What Środowisko is, what it looked like in the life of Saint Pope John Paul II, and what it means for us as Catholic women today

• Why finding meaning in life isn’t enough and why we need grit, too

• How to navigate friendship in changing seasons and how to be truly vulnerable with women you trust

• Sarah’s three ingredients for healthy and holy friendship

• How Sarah lives out the feminine genius in her daily life

Resources you should check out after listening to this episode:

• Pick up a copy of Gift and Grit

• Connect with Sarah on Instagram and Facebook

• Visit The Swafford’s website and get a signed copy of Gift and Grit

• Lisa Cotter’s new book on femininity, Reveal the Gift—and my conversation with her about it on the Letters to Women podcast!

• Sarah and I’s conversation on emotional virtue from back in 2018 on the Letters to Women podcast

• Join us in bringing the newest Langr home with our adoption fundraiser

• Check out the sponsor for today’s episode, Sacred Heart Tea, and use the code LETTERS to get 10% off your purchase at checkout

• Pick up a copy of the Letters to Women book (and use the code LETTERS at checkout to receive 15% off your purchase!)

• Check out my monthly newsletter, Naptime Notes

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“Throw out whatever image that you think you need to have of yourself. Really ask the Lord to see you and be seen by you. Let the Lord love you. Let him define all the beauty that is within you.”
—Sarah Swafford