Many people consider February a month of romance, but it can also be a perfect time to celebrate female friendships, which are just as important as any romantic connection. February already has a day informally dedicated to these friendships, the day before Valentine’s Day, most commonly known as Galentine’s Day. This day was coined in an episode of “Parks and Recreation” when the main character, Leslie Knope, invites her female friends to brunch the day before Valentine’s Day to celebrate their friendship. While Galentine’s day has passed, that does not mean you can no longer celebrate your female friendships. They deserve to be celebrated all month.Â
Having friends to lean on and support you can help boost your happiness and confidence. Whether we realize it or not, we need these friendships in our lives. Psychologists have found that women who have strong friendships are often happier and healthier because they have strong support systems and can confide in women who relate to the struggles they are feeling. Whether that is confiding about relationship struggles or just needing people to vent to when life gets hard, these friendships will always be there for you.Â
Strong female friendships are so important for young women to have. I can speak from experience, as I have some very positive female friendships in my life. My sister is one of them, she is one of my go-tos when I have exciting news to share or I want to get lunch or just run errands. Another example of women who uplift me is my friends from home. I remember I did not have a date for a dance one year, so my friend and I decided to be each other’s dates; it was so much fun, and our friends who did have dates ended up spending more time without them than with them. It was a great night, and it showed us that we did not need dates to have fun, we just needed each other.
TV shows have also evolved their depictions of female friendships over the years, now showing them in a positive and supportive light. Some examples of these include: Rachel, Monica and Phoebe from “Friends;” Jess and Cece from “New Girl;” and Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda from “Sex and the City.” All of these shows depict women who are vastly different from each other, but always come together to support one another when times are tough. In one episode of “Sex and the City,” Charlotte decides that she and her friends should be each other’s soulmates and let guys just “be people they have fun with,” cementing their importance in each other’s lives.
These examples of female friendships have gone against the harmful narrative that movies and TV shows sometimes followed in the past by only having multiple female characters to provide conflict with one another, or if they are friends, all they discuss is their relationships with the male characters. While these things do exist in real life, often older shows and movies act like it is the only interactions women have with each other, which could not be further from the truth.
When it comes to celebrating your friends this month, there are so many things you can do. Maybe take a page out of Leslie Knope’s book and invite your friends out for brunch or dinner; maybe you can even dress up and make it fancy like a date. Another idea is getting each other flowers, which does not have to be just a romantic gesture. Or just plan to spend some time together, whether that’s a movie night or a video call — just make the time to see them.Â
Overall, our female friendships are some of the most important ones we will have in our lives. Whether it is someone we’ve known our whole lives or someone we met in the last year, cultivating and growing these friendships are so important to our overall happiness as women. Throughout our lives, we lean on our friends and talk to them about anything and everything that happens to us; they know about all the good and even all the bad.Â
Before February ends, I hope you find a way to celebrate the important friends in your life and show them how important they are to you. Just like Carrie Bradshaw says, “Nothing lasts forever; dreams change, trends come and go, but friendships never go out of style.”