Making this shift is awkward initially, no doubt. I was recently texting with a long-distance friend who’d moved away for a job. When I asked how things were going, she replied with something like, “Great! I moved up at work, I’m getting a dog in two weeks. AND I started this new diet and lost 15 pounds!!!” It made me uncomfortable at first. I mean, for one thing, she’s my friend. She knows I’ve been writing something called The Anti-Diet Project for four years. For another, it just struck me as odd that losing 15 pounds was a life event one would put on the same list as getting promoted — or getting a dog! I wanted to hear about the dog! But then I remembered that this wasn’t about me. She’d used all-caps when describing her weight loss, not the new promotion or pet. Odd or not, it would have been just as weird for me to skip over her message as a whole and go straight to the part I wanted to talk about. The important part was that she was so excited. She was holding up a virtual hand for a high-five. So I took a minute to choose my words, then high-fived her back: “Wow! So much going on — that’s fantastic! I’m SO happy things are working out so great out there. I miss you!!!” And then I put like 12 emoji.