You already know how totally important your BFFs are. They’re there to catch you when you fall, they’re always a text message away, and they truly want the best for you — they’re a super crucial part of your life, whether you’re single or coupled up. Hold onto your girlfriends — here’s why they will always fulfill you in ways that a guy can’t:
- No one understands you better than they do. Sure, the guys that you date care about you and want you to be happy, but it’s totally and completely different. You can’t talk to your boyfriend about cramps that keep you up all night or your feelings about the Pretty Little Liars finale. Well, technically you can, but you’ll get a few sighs and you probably want to actually get a real response. You can relate to your girlfriends so much more than whoever you’re dating because you’re going through the same stuff.
- You support each other. You’re dealing with the highs and lows of your 20s or 30s, from career dreams to crushing disappointments, from broken hearts to discovering who you really are. You and your friends have been there for each other from the start, cheering each other on and you’re completely invested in each other’s journeys. That just doesn’t happen with guys.
- You can talk love. You can’t always talk to your BF about how you feel about him or work out your relationship thoughts and issues. That might not go over too well, but you can thankfully talk to your girlfriends and they can give you the best advice ever. Just try to date without asking them if something is normal or logical — you would never be able to survive any first or second date, let alone an entirely new relationship.
- You’re in it for the long haul. Of course you’ve had friendship breakups and you know that nothing lasts forever, especially not a best friendship. But hopefully by now you’ve figured out which women you really want to call your BFFs and you know you’re going to keep them around. When you’re in it for the long run with your girlfriends, it’s for real. You can’t say the same thing about your current love situation, no matter how you feel about this guy.
- You have emotional intimacy. You don’t always have this with your boyfriend, and while it sucks that some guys aren’t cool with showing their emotions or talking to you about them, it’s all good. You share this with your friends so at least you’re getting it from some aspect of your life. You cherish the deep conversations you guys have when you’re grabbing drinks or hanging out at home.
- You don’t expect perfection. It’s funny how much slack you give your best friends. If they cancel on you last minute, reschedule plans, or go through a rough time and don’t text you as much, it’s all good. You totally get it. When your boyfriend or a guy you just started seeing does that? Yeah, not so much. You tend not to expect your friends to be as perfect which means much less disappointment.
- You never take them for granted. It can be super easy to forget how lucky you are to have someone in your life if you’re in a long-term relationship or if things have gotten a bit stagnant and boring. You don’t take your girlfriends for granted, though, because you know how hard good friends are to find and how rare it is to have something that lasts through all the changes in your life.
- You grow together. You know that the unfortunate reality of most relationships is you grow in a way that your partner just doesn’t. Suddenly you’re not the same person or he’s not, and there’s not much you can do to save things. But you often grow with your girlfriends since you’re in the same stage of your life. You want the same things, whether it’s a real love story or a career (or both, since of course you can have both of those).
- You never know when you need them. It’s the worst idea in the world to ditch your friends when you’re newly in love (or when you’ve been in love for a while). Just don’t do this. You truly never know when you might need your friends. Life has a funny way of being pretty much the opposite of what you expect, and if you don’t value your girlfriends, you’ll be left with no one when you’re really desperate for help and advice.
- You’re the luckiest. If you can call even just a handful of women your good friends, you’re pretty much the luckiest person ever. That’s because no matter what happens in your life, from breakups to first dates to new jobs to getting fired, you have people there to talk to. They’re going to save you when you need it and make you laugh in good times and bad. That’s worth so much more than any guy.
