Nurturing Your Sister-Friends

Today's post is especially for the ladies. ​

​For as long as I can remember, through multiple seasons of my life, the one word that has driven me the most is ‘connection.’ I find connection fascinating and believe that we thrive through human connection. As an educator, trainer, and coach, I am constantly reminded of the power of connection one’s learning. The best learning happens when strong connections are present. But how does connection affect our personal lives? More specifically, how does it affect women?

Although both men and women thrive when they connect with others, women have more of a need for it. From ancient times women have shared their lives. Sisterhood was essential for survival. Even before outlining the source of strength and comfort, sisterhood was needed for helping to raise children, cooking, daily tasks, and the especially monumental task of childbirth.  Women needed to help each other through day-to-day challenges to survive. A benefit to this was that this sisterhood also helped to improve their resilience and increase their level of happiness.

As we have evolved, we have moved away from living in closer communities and even if some may continue to live in small communities, community connection has a different feel. We now can connect through technology in an instant, yet our level of sisterly connection isn’t necessarily increasing.

Whether it’s the day to day demands of the corporate world, being overrun by toddlers or teenagers, or a plethora of other reasons, many women find their time is stretched extremely thin. This can shift much needed connection time to the back burner…or quite frankly out the back door. The thing is, female friendships are extremely powerful. They can be activators to our next levels.
Women may not need each other to survive in the same ways as they did in ancient times, but when women are intentional about building each other up, nurturing their tribes/sister-friend relationships, amazing things happen.  Here of my favorite benefits:
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1. Women provide each other with courage to thrive. When women have sister friends that believe in you fiercely, it is motivating and fuels the courage and confidence needed to hit higher levels.
2. Women provide support in motherhood. Motherhood can be a lonely journey in which there is so much to navigate. When moms have other moms to connect with, they have a sounding board to let out frustrations and look for solutions.
3. Sister-friend relationships provide an opportunity for authentic refueling. Sister friends provide a time to take off the armor and just be. When woman can just be, without judgement, it gives them the opportunity to embrace who they authentically are and an opportunity to truly refuel for the inevitable day to day challenges.
4. It allows your spouse/partner to be just that...your spouse or partner. As supportive as your spouse or partner may be, they provide a different support and play a different role than the ladies in your circle.
5. They tell you the truth…with love. Sometimes we need perspective checks and sister-friends can provide this and help us navigate challenging situations.

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