“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
– C.S. Lewis
Friendships are so important, especially if you’re a mom. There are so many experiences that only moms share. When I was pregnant with my first child, my best friend was away at college. She was happy for me, but her focus then was on pursuing her education. Babies weren’t even remotely on her radar at the time. Eventually, she gave birth to her first child, and she said to me, “I’m so sorry if I seemed dismissive of your excitement back then. I had no idea how much I would love my child, and how much she would change my world.”
International Friendship Day is coming up on July 30th, and we wanted to remind ourselves of some of the real benefits of nurturing our friend relationships.
- Increase your sense of belonging and purpose.
- Boost your happiness and reduce your stress.
- Improve your self-confidence and self-worth.
- Help you cope with traumas, such as divorce, serious illness, job loss or the death of a loved one.
Everyone needs to feel accepted. Sometimes that’s hard when you’re not necessarily a “mainstream” kind of person. Maybe you are totally into homeopathic remedies and avoid traditional medicine. Or maybe you are a vegetarian, or vegan, or you just find yourself “outside the lines“ somewhere in your life. Finding your people becomes paramount to your feelings of being included, and to your well-being. HMN Member Carrie Hove Stephens agrees, “Friendship nowadays brings to mind long conversations, tears, laughter, and a sense of togetherness with people we find a connection with. Most of my longest friendships have been in conjunction with being involved with different organizations like HMN and work. We don’t realize how important our friends are until we are isolated like right now. There’s also this current mentality you can’t be friends with someone with different views. Some of our greatest influences in our lives have been friends. HMN has brought me together with some really great people. Some with varied views and experiences that I hope to stay in touch with for years to come.
The Holistic Moms Network is uniquely positioned to provide opportunities to bring moms together and encourage, support, and nurture the friendships that develop among members. Jen Oh says, “I’ve been an HMN member for 14 years. HMN has been a foundation of my motherhood and has supported me through all of my mothering adventures. Some of my longest friendships have their start thanks to HMN.”
Friends are your people – the ones who see you at your best (and your worst). Friends accept you for who you are. They’re the ones who you never feel weird around even when you’re proclaiming your own weirdness. They cheer you on, lift you up, laugh with you, not at you, and, probably most importantly, they cry with you.
Find your holistic-minded village.