Female Friendships, The Importance Behind Having and Experiencing Them

What Is a Female Friendship?

    Female friendships are unique and among the most meaningful bonds between women. More than casual or temporary connections, these relationships are crucial because they involve mutual support, honest advice, and a constant check-in on each other’s well-being and lives. Surrounding yourself with people who challenge and support you is essential. As women, we may often or constantly think about whether our group truly supports us or simply offers the appearance of connection. Asking yourself whether you are comfortable and genuine in your friendships is important, as these questions reveal much about the nature of female friendship.

Why Is a Female Friendship Important?

    Having strong, supportive female friendships is crucial for your personal growth and emotional health. When considering whom to spend your time with, prioritize connections that are free of toxicity. If you begin to doubt whether someone is truly good for you, it is better to distance yourself gently to protect your well-being and prevent future anxiety.

    Having female friendships means that they support your dreams, celebrate those accomplishments with you when those dreams come to a reality, because you made them a reality.

At What Point Will You Find Them?

    You’ll find these friendships at any point in your life. Whether that be during childhood, during high school, or even in college. I’ve had the worst friendship breakup of my life during my junior year of high school, and I’d known them for 2-3 years, made good memories, and thought I was going to be their lifelong friend. However, something went down, and I’d been in a low state for months. Without a good system and some time for healing and rebuilding my confidence, I thought I was going to be in that state for a longer period than just a few months. 

How to Leave a Toxic Female Friendship?

If you search for the article titled “6 Reasons Why Female Friendships are Crucial for Girls’ Advocacy,” you’ll find it quotes Eleanor Roosevelt, “A woman is like a teabag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” Going off this analogy, why are you dimming your strength by letting people who are bad for your health into the water?

    At any point, if you find yourself in a toxic female friendship, don’t overthink. The worst thing you can do to yourself is overthink what they’ll think of you, whether they’ll talk behind your back, etc. Why are you letting yourself be affected by them when you’ve already been affected by them more than once in the past? The best thing to do in this case is to communicate with them. When all is said and thought over carefully, it’s best to be calm and communicate that you’ve thought it through and would like some space because of their behavior toward you over said amount of time. If you’ve talked to them before about this, let them know that their behavior has not changed since the last time you talked with them. If they’re petty or refuse to believe it, don’t worry about that. This is for your own mental peace, and you’re doing the best you can for yourself.

How to Heal from a Friendship Breakup?

    Personally, as a female who has had many female friendships throughout my life, I can say I’ve had my fair share of hypocritical friends, friends who were jealous of my accomplishments, and friends who didn’t care about my achievements. It’s very important that once you realize the signs, you let go of them. If it’s affecting your mental health, that friendship is never, ever worth it. Over time, the built-up anxiety is going to make you burst, which can affect you more than anybody else in this situation.

    If you haven’t found your people yet, or think that you’ll never find your people because the group you’re with now gives off your vibe more than anybody else, let me be the one to tell you that you will find your people, nevertheless. It might be hard to let go. A couple of months, a year. The biggest advice I can give you is not to stress. It’s one of those things that takes time.

    Personally, I’ve had one of the worst friendship breakups of my life in the junior year of high school. I’ve known them for more or less 2-3 years. I think I’ve remembered more of the stressful situations that happened to me than all the fun memories we’ve had. Because of that, I decided to detach from their group completely. That being said, I’m not suggesting that you curse them whenever you see them on social media. It’s better to wish them good luck on their future endeavors while also avoiding interaction to maintain your mental peace. It might be hard to let go. Use the time you have to focus on yourself. Do the activities you like, build confidence, and be the person you’re meant to be. Don’t let anybody dim your light and vice versa.

How to Know a Female Friendship is for You?

    Now that I’m in college, I’ve found the people I can confidently say I will spend the rest of my life with. I like to see quality over quantity. In other words, I loosely follow the Pareto principle in friendships. There are so many explanations on the web to describe the Pareto principle, but I like to call it the 80/20 rule in friendship because it helps you identify who really means a lot to you. In terms of friendship, look at all the people you know and find who you think would give you 80% of the support and advice, and who you think would be there for you when you feel down in life. Stick to those people. Spend time with them. They’ll return your effort and energy.