Monday, January 26, 2009

An inspiring reminder about friendships

My mother-in-law forwarded me a link to the short video below (thank you!)--if you have 5 minutes it's well worth viewing. Author Kelly Corrigan wrote this moving essay about women's remarkable capacity to support each other, to laugh together, and to endure.


I'm in my early 30's (can I say that if I'm 34?) and haven't yet had to go through some of the experiences Kelly Corrigan spoke about yet I found myself teary eyed at the end of her reading. I identified with so much of it and could imagine the rest. I find myself at a point in my life where true friendships are deeply cherished and I long to connect more with my best friends and make new ones. Lots of things make that difficult--time, geography, careers, kids, schedules, vacation time, money, etc. I'm in this weird stage in life where I've lost touch with my university friends, have moved cities & provinces to move forward in my own life and wept and hugged friends goodbye as they've moved away to go live theirs.

Girlfriends have always been like air to me--a necessity. Yet, as I juggle the priorities in my life nurturing my friendships seems to be something on my "to do" list and I can never quite seem to find enough time which is just NOT ok with me anymore. Because at the end of the day my girlfriends will be there with me in the good times and celebrations and will also help get me through the hard, sad, scary moments that I know will be in my future (and just for the record my husband is not exactly chopped liver but this post is about girlfriends not husbands).

I dream of a girls weekend away with good food, great wine, late nights, long walks, and tons of giggles. I know if I can dream it I can create it and that will make it become a reality and something to really look forward to.

What do you need to do to strengthen your friendships? Do you think you "create" friendships or do friendships just "happen"? Thoughts?

Dream big. Imagine. Be inspired.
LIVE

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jen,

We just had this up on our blog too - what a powerful video.

I am heading to Calgary this weekend to start my CTi traing - very exciting for me.

Kathryn Gompf

Anonymous said...

hi jen! i think it's so cool that i am posting a comment after kathryn's! i got together with her on friday night for drinks and appy's to rave about you and find out everything about her personal coaching class.

about your question though. i take a huge lesson from our friend alli. i think she does an amazing job cultivating her friendships. i have come to realize that i need to follow her lead. i have started making it a priority and getting together with girlfriends is as important as a date... so much so that i am willing to get a babysitter! so that the time i have with them is a true catch-up. without interruption. i heart my girlfriends and am so interested in what everyone is doing and thinking. gives me good perspective and grounds me.

hope you're feeling good! next time kath is in town we should all get together for some girl time!

wendy