Female friendship. Always worth celebrating over a glass of something cheeky.

I USED to think that female friendships would always involve some element of jealousy and competition.

I used to think that girls and women could never really be friends.

I used to think that women were bitchy and that girls were catty.

I used to think that being mates with my fellow sex would always be problematic.

I used to think that you could never really trust a fellow girl or woman.

And so…

I proudly called myself a ‘guy’s girl’.

I had few genuine female friends.

I treated some of my female friends very badly.

I attracted friends that were not good people.

I had unhealthy female friendships.

I was let down and I let people down.

In a world of female friendship, I often felt lost at sea.

But then one day, I grew up.

I watched. I listened and I learned.

It didn’t take me long to work out that I’d fallen for the nonsense that women could only hate each other.

It didn’t take me long to work out that I’d seen my sex as competition because that’s what the world wanted me to do.

It didn’t take me long to realise that I actually needed women, ‘sisters’ in my world.

It didn’t take me long to realise that I couldn’t attract the kind of friends I wanted unless I was that friend too.

It didn’t take me long to realise that when women talk and share from the heart, good stuff can happen and does.

Today…

My life is full of women whom I adore. Who inspire me. Who educate me. Who help me become a better person.

My female friends make me feel good, they make me laugh, they encourage and are there for me when life isn’t so rosy.

Now I know that female friendship really is a beautiful thing. And precious too.

Now I know that whilst many female friendships aren’t always easy, that the good ones, are always worth hanging on to and nurturing.

Now I know that female friendship comes in all kinds of packages.

Now I know that you can find female friendship in the most unlikeliest of places.

Now I know that without my female friends, my mates, my pals, my partners in crime, that my life would be so much poorer.

Now I know what the world tries to keep a secret:

That women together, united and supportive of each other, are a force to be reckoned with.

That female friendship is powerful and giving and damn right fabulous.

That together, as women, we can change the world.

And that it all starts of as friendship.

———

With love,

Katie