This. Depending on how you’re raised, it can be nearly impossible. And we know what a trainwreck BJ’s childhood was. It’s so difficult for so many reasons, from worthiness to feeling silly to just lack of practice. It’s awful, and one of the many realistic things about his character.

Since too many people in this sub can relate to BJ, and I have a minute to kill, I’ll threadjack for anyone struggling similar:

It’s hard, but it is possible to overcome - ya just gotta start practicing. “It gets easier, but you gotta do it every day,” you might say.

I had similar hesitations / reluctance / self-doubt / “yeah, but do I love them?” dumb mental arithmetic / damage, then a random friend of a friend at a party casually said it to me as they were leaving. That shock (and it was a shock) started a years-long journey down a path towards a lot of changes for the better. I STRONGLY encourage telling your friends you love them. It’s true. Just because you didn’t grow up feeling and/or hearing it, that doesn’t mean you can’t start expressing it now. The more you practice, the easier and better it feels… it’s scary, but worth it.

And the fun thing is, it really does get easier and easier and helps people in your circle, too. You never know when someone REALLY needs to hear it, so why not remind them? I owe that friend of a friend a lot. Try it. It really does help.

Tell your friends you love them. Believe them when they say the same. For some of us, both of those are easier said than done, but it’s worth working on.

Hell, that would make a pretty awesome reboot standalone season catching up a few years down the line, come to think of it. Call me, BJ writers!