Welcome to The Friends Theory, where we use pop culture and story to reframe the way you see your life, work, and what you’re capable of.

This week, we’re embracing what we like, even if seems crazy to everyone else.

3-minute read.

The One With the Banana-Meat Thing

Insights from “The One Where Ross Got High (Season 6, Episode 9)

🎬 Picture it:
It’s Thanksgiving and Rachel is in charge of the dessert. A traditional English trifle. Only she’s messed up the recipe and the layers are as follows:

Ross and Joey, having listened to the description, are understandably miffed.

On further investigation it transpires that the recipe book pages were stuck together and Rachel has made half an English trifle and half a Shepherd’s pie (actually, script writers, Shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, not beef, so technically Rachel had made half a cottage pie. Just saying.).

To save Rachel humiliation along with other ulterior motives, the gang decide to pretend the trifle is good. They all secretly hate it. Everyone that is, except Joey. He loves it:

Joey is the only one in the room actually enjoying what's in front of him. No apology. No checking if anyone else approves. Just: custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, gooooood.

And I've been thinking about what it means to be the Joey in the room.

Ever Been Here?

I've been working on a new offer. It was going pretty well. Ideas were coming together in a way that I liked.

And then I got sensible.

You see, I have two versions of myself that I've named Sensible Susan and Manifestation Molly. Sensible Susan likes a plan, a structure, a clear path forward. Manifestation Molly believes in visualisation, backs herself, and moves from instinct.

I'd steered so far into Sensible Susan territory that I lost Molly entirely.

I was trying to fit myself into a neater, more structured version of what I do because I thought it would make the offer stronger. What I actually did was make it weaker. Go figure.

I'm risk-averse and a worrier. But I also once moved to a country I'd never visited before and didn't break a sweat.

I like to stay home and read. I also like to dance my ass off at the club.

I go for runs in the forest listening to hard techno and come home and put on a podcast about manifestation and motivation.

Maybe one side of me is banana and the other side is meat. They shouldn't go together. But they absolutely do.

And I spent too long trying to be just the custard.

Try This On:

Next time you get a little urge to do something you secretly want to do — something that may seem a bit out of the ordinary, a bit random, but a bit you — give it a shot. See how you feel.

And if something isn't coming together the way you want it to, sit down with it. Be honest. Work the problem. Ask yourself: where have I gone too Susan? Where did I leave Molly behind?

Final Thought

In the end, Joey ate all the trifles. Not just his. Everyone else's too, after they tried to hide them.

And you know what?

Who cares if you like things that don't seem to make sense together? Do you, boo-boo. You don't have to fit into a box, even if it's one of your own making.

Be more like Joey.

Eat the meat. Eat the jam. Eat the custard.

If that's what you want.

See you next week, possibly 😉
Lucy xx

P.S. If you’re feeling unsure about banana-meat things, start here 👇

Thanks for reading The Friends Theory. I appreciate you so much ❤️