The Importance of Female Friendships

Throughout our early lives, we will go through numerous relationships, trying to find our people. When I was little, I remember hearing everyone say, guy friendships are easier, or that girl friendships have too much drama. 

As I have gone through life, I have always had that little struggle of finding the right friends. Because in all reality girl friends can be a lot. They can be very difficult, they can have a lot of drama, especially if you can’t find the right people for you. 

Guy friendships are good, they are easy. But they are also so unserious. As guys get older, they begin creating tighter bonds with their guy friends through jokes and having mutual hobbies and interests like sports and games, just like girls do. This is a good base for most friendships. Except those interests are not always the same. 

I believe that male-female friendships work differently. 

They can thrive and feel like good friendships but usually, only on a superficial level. Leaving you, or at least me, feeling like I have friends one day and no friends the next day, or even the hour. 

Even if you only have one female friendship, it can change everything, and three or four can do even more. 

The first semester of freshman year, most of my friends were guys. I had my roommate and my long-distance friend from home. Having my friend from home was lifesaving to my ability to continue at school. 

School became overwhelming, and I was not really talking to anyone, but I would talk to my friend from home for hours and our conversations would reset me. My stress would release, I could tell her my problems, and she would tell me hers. 

We were one other’s unqualified therapists, just trying to help each other make it out of this weird period of our lives in one piece. And you know what? We did it! And I think a lot of other girls do the same thing.

We lean on each other for support and stability.

But as time went on some things would still get worse, way before it would get better, and sometimes we just couldn’t talk. Our schedules wouldn’t align. We both had different lives and were just trying to figure it all out. 

By the end of my second semester I was starting to find some girl friends, and now I have my little group. Though it might not be a huge group of eight-10 friends who can have little parties of just themselves, it helps my success so much.

As a group we build each other up. Constantly reminding each other they are perfect the way they are, no matter what they are talking about, because it’s true. 

We share stories that should probably be kept to ourselves, but we have such a deep trust for one another that it doesn’t matter. 

Girlhood is not easy. We are all experiencing it for the first time, we are all learning lessons, but we do it together. We go on our little late night excursions, or spend the afternoon just resetting our brains. 

These are not the same things that can happen in a guy friendship, its just not the same. I am not saying they are not also valuable, but us girls have something else. 

We are each other’s hype man. Each other’s level heads when we get frustrated. And we are here forever.

• #college
• #Friendship
• #mentalhealth
• #support