Sisterhood

I couldn’t let women’s history month pass without talking about the importance of positive female relationships. While it is important to focus on the shocking inequality that exists in all spheres of life for women in this very modern 2019, I think it is equally important to talk about women lifting up other women, and forming bonds to overcome these inequalities.

I have three sisters and while I love them dearly, I’ll be the first to tell you that the closest female relationships I have are with women who are not my blood sisters. My sisterhood consists of women I’ve known from the first day of high school, sisters in Christ I met at church, and bonds I forged with women through some of the most difficult times of my life. The older I’ve gotten, the smaller my group of “sisters” have become. I’ve lost a few friendships over time, but as with everything in life I see that these friendships ran their course and these women were in my life for a season and a reason. As with any experience there are good ones and bad; I wish I could say that I was closer with some family members or that some friendships I had would still be blooming, but that is just not how life is. Because of these experiences I have some key take aways about the importance of sisterhood and what it takes to make it successful. So here’s my story and the truth about my “sisters.”

I’m adamant about always speaking my truth, even when it hurts. I’ve had friendships that were built on lies, and dishonesty. The women I surround myself with today, are very much like me. We speak our truth always without fear of judgement. One of my closest sisters, Shawna, is always spitting truth at me. I don’t always like to hear it, but she shares her opinion in love and I value her for that because I’d rather her tell me the truth to my face than to say it to someone else behind my back.

We support each other! Too many women are out here bitching, and backbiting and hating on the progress of other women. That is not what sisterhood is about. I don’t have the energy to engage in fake friendships of pretending to be someone’s friend and talking about them in secret. If you’re not rooting for me as hard as I’m rooting for your success, you’re not my sister. I admire #gabrielleunion for something she does every week on Instagram. She chooses a different women to highlight her for her work, her contributions to her industry and why she admires her. She always ends her post by saying, “let us lift her up in light and love.” Let us lift each other up in light and love! Let us tell another sister she’s beautiful, leave a comment or like a sister’s post if she looks good, congratulate her when she’s accomplished something. We are living in a society where the odds are stacked against us in a male dominated world, must we be hard on each other too? I think not!

It’s important to create bonds that when you need a friend or a shoulder to cry on someone is there. It’s even more important to look out for each other and love your sister when she looks out for you. It’s so easy to take offense and lose friendships because someone didn’t say what you wanted to hear or they don’t enable your bad behavior. Sisterhood is not always telling someone what they want to hear, it’s about honesty, trust, and being there for each other in the good and the bad. When we as women lift each other up, the glo up is amazing. When as women we unite, anything is possible. Cherish your sisters, create bonds, memories, love and above all else laugh!