‘The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you that you love, well, that’s just fabulous.’ – Carrie Bradshaw.
The day that I met Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte is a day that I will never forget. From the first episode of Sex and the City I was hooked and the girls immediately became my best friends and life gurus. I sympathized with Carrie’s shopping addiction, marveled at Miranda’s ‘superwoman’ career, bawled with the seemingly ‘unlucky in love’ Charlotte and giggled at Samantha’s outrageous sexual antics.
These women are the epitome of the word fabulous but, let’s face it; the prospect of being able to spend $40,000 on shoes is one that we, as students, are not all too familiar with. However, there are some valuable life lessons in SATC that we girls can all relate to, whether we live in the eccentric Big Apple or the slightly more refined city of Leeds.
1. Focus on ‘me, myself and I’.
Sometimes in life we can be so absorbed by trying to please others that we forget the most important thing: ourselves. At university in particular, it can be difficult to balance social and romantic relationships with workloads and looming deadlines. Try and take on the successful Samantha’s strategy to dealing with such situations: “I love you, but I love me more”; making sure that you are focused on your own happiness.
2. “I’d like a cheeseburger, large fries, oh and a Cosmopolitan” – Cocktails are a life necessity, even for students.
Now I am in no way encouraging alcoholism, but when you finish a hard day at University with a piña colada (or two), I cannot stress the feeling of sheer bliss enough. The Sex and The City girls are big (I place emphasis on the word big) cocktail fans, to the extent that a Cosmopolitan ‘on the side’ of a Big Mac is just the norm. Unfortunately, student finance really doesn’t take into consideration a woman’s need for cocktails when calculating our loan. Do not panic! With bars such as Tiger Tiger and Revolution offering a nice little discount for students, you can all get your cocktail fix.
3. Recognize the early warning signs of jealousy… before ‘the post-stick sticks twice’.
We all remember Jack Berger: the handsome, intelligent writer who swept Carrie off her feet… to then later break up with her via a piece of paper. In fact, not even paper – a post stick note. So, what is the moral of this story? To never leave post stick notes in close perimeter of your new boyfriend? No, it’s to never let another person make you feel low for being successful. Berger is insanely jealous of Carrie’s thriving career from the moment her book is published but being naïve, Carrie simply brushes it off and continues their relationship – only for it to all come crashing down on a post stick note. If she’d have acknowledged his inability to feel happy for her success, the whole scenario could have been prevented. Your partner and loved ones should always be proud of your achievements just as you are, and the only post stick notes in your life should be for revision purposes only.
4.“Life gives you lots of chances to screw up, which means you have just as many chances to get it right”- Take every chance that comes your way.
The SATC girls are all good examples of how anybody, no matter what their background, can be successful. Take Samantha Jones, she’s from a lower class background and has worked her way up through the PR industry to gain her high-status reputation. However Samantha is not shy of taking chances, to the point where she storms into Richard Wright’s office and belittles him for refusing her a job because she is a woman. A few hours later, she receives a call congratulating her on her new employment status. As students, there are so many once in a lifetime opportunities offered to us, so don’t be afraid to take the risk – you never know where a spontaneous decision could take you. So, whether it is in employment, education, relationships or just life in general, the next time you’re hesitating to take a chance, think to yourself, if I were Samantha Jones what would I do?
5. Your girlfriends are, and always will be, the real loves of your lives.
We’ve all been in those situations where we’re reminded that ‘things come and go, but friends will never leave’ and it’s only when we get a bit older that this is truly put into perspective. When Mr. Big walks into Carrie’s life she is plunged into chaos and heartbreak over and over again but with the help of her girlfriends she soon returns to normality. Having been at University for what feels like an eternity of 6 weeks, I can say my new girlfriends have seen me cry, projectile vomit (unfortunately) and embarrass myself beyond belief in Fresher’s week and I’m sure the story is the same for most of you. If there’s one thing that can be learnt from SATC it’s that, as Carrie rightly says, “Our girlfriends are our soul mates, and guys are just people to have fun with”…after all, they do say that the friends you make at University are your friends for life.
Molly Campbell
Image Source:
1) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/17592254768273248/,
2) http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/movie-style-guy-martini-time.php,
3) http://roromendut.wordpress.com/2006/04/27/the-post-it-always-sticks-twice/
4) http://www.babble.com/entertainment/12-dating-rules-that-sex-and-the-city-gave-us/,