Leaning on Your Girlfriends

There’s a holiday today that’s only for women. Sorry guys – you’re left out of this one, and the silver lining is that you don’t have to remember today, buy flowers, a card, or take your lady out to a fancy dinner. Today, National Girlfriends Day, is a day for women to celebrate their women-friends, so guys, if your female significant other expects flowers, gifts, and an extravagant date night from you tonight, tell them they’re barking up the wrong tree. 

Historically, women are the care-givers, community-builders, and nurturers. From the time of early civilizations, women typically left their families to be with the new man’s family. The alliances they built with the women in their new circle were often very much like those they had with their biological families, and that deep, family-style bonding continues today. While men’s friendships are more transactional in nature and can be fairly easily disrupted by shifting alliances, that’s not how it is with women’s, where there’s a strong focus on empathy, support, along with mutual respect and trust. 

Sometimes that supportiveness can feel more like smothering, whether it’s done by a man or a woman. In a friendship, that can cause a major rift, and in the workplace, it can be detrimental to morale, productivity, and communication. Especially in the workplace, it’s important to have boundaries to keep the peace and get things done. Need a little inspiration to help your team? Here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast to help you troubleshoot and tweak if needed:  

• Someone need to learn the secret to staying in their lane? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that! 
• Are you sure you’re among the right people? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that! 
• Is there too much arguing? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!  

Through the years there have been some epic supportive friendships between women – Billie Jean King and Chris Evert, Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald, Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray are just a few of the unlikely pairs of supportive, caring friends. Think about the friendships in your life and in your workplace, and celebrate them every day, at least with a text or call. And if you can have a girls-only soiree to celebrate National Girlfriend’s Day, go for it!