‘At Least You’re Young Enough to Start Again’: What Not to Say to a Friend Getting Divorced at Thirty
‘Sometimes Friends Grow Together and Grow Apart’: Reflecting on Adult Female Friendships
At first, I felt guilty for not being there for her when she needed me. Although it didn’t seem like whatever was going on was too serious, since it’d been dealt with so quickly, it could have been urgent at the time. This guilt was balanced out by the fact that part of me was angry at her. She was making me the villain and accusing me of not being there for her while I was halfway across the world and having the most difficult week of my life…
‘We Need to Normalise Open Communication’: Setting Boundaries Within a Friendship
Setting boundaries is something that I have struggled with in the past. This was before I learned that saying the words, “I am not comfortable speaking about this,” does not make you an inconsiderate friend – it makes you human. In this unfortunate era of my life when boundaries were a foreign concept, various experiences in an accidental trial-and-error process made me aware of my limits…
Mean Girls or Golden Girls? The Spectrum of Female Friendship
Any woman who has been drunk in a club toilet will be able to tell you that we have this innate capacity to bond, quickly and forcibly, with other women, even if we have absolutely nothing in common. But it’s not all sweetness and light; the spectrum on which female friendships exist is a vast one. On one end is this type of beautiful, unconditional encouragement and support. On the other end is unhealthy co-dependency built on manipulation and toxicity…