Women and Friendship, is it as good or better than Chocolate?
I’ll start this article by admitting that I am a full-blown
“chocoholic.” I love the way eating a piece of chocolate makes
me feel. It’s so indulging, satisfying, and to me is the
ultimate reward or excuse to instantly lift my spirits, calm my
nerves, and just make me happy. This lead me to thinking about
how few things in life are as good or better than chocolate.
Now, I would certainly have to rank being a Mom at the top of
the list, but another big contender is Friendship. I think it is
truly disappointing that we as women allow something as
rewarding and bittersweet as friendship, to regularly take a
back seat to our careers, husbands, children and busy demands of
life. When you compare eating a piece of chocolate to spending
time with friends, you will find a lot of commonalities…
·Friendship and Chocolate are both actually healthy for us.
·Friendship and Chocolate both make us feel good. ·Friendship
and Chocolate can be addictive and both make us eager for more.
Did you know that researchers and scientists have suggested that
chocolate contains compounds that can help maintain a healthy
heart, good circulation, and reduce blood clotting? And, a
Nurses study at Harvard Medical school found that women with
friends were less likely to develop physical impairments as they
aged.
I know for me personally, whether it’s a few minutes on the
phone, a nice e-mail shared, lunch/dinner, or movie time spent
with a friend, I am left feeling refreshed, happy, and ready to
sing, “I feel like a Woman!” While I truly love being a Mom, I
need friend time for me (even though half of it may be spent
talking about the children anyway). It just feels great to spend
time with my girlfriends to gab about everything under the sun,
including love, relationships, finances, parenting, – and
occasionally important topics like Brad Pitt!
Have you every noticed that when you do finally take the time to
make that phone call to your friend, send that e-mail, or
arrange that dinner or movie date, that you feel so good you
automatically start planning for the next chat or get together.
We do this because this needed interaction with our female
friends just leaves us eager for more. This “feel good”
addiction is similar to why we automatically eat more than one
piece of chocolate in the box (and admit it, we rarely stop at
just one).
I may be disqualified to judge what is truly better, friendships
between women; or chocolate, since I admittedly confessed to
being a “chocoholic”. After all, some of you reading this
article may not even like chocolate. In my opinion they are both
equally fabulous. However, I do want to say if ever you needed
to slow down, and purposely make time for something in your life
amongst your daily juggling of activities, then please do so for
friendships. Finding “friendship” time needs to be a priority
even if it is once a week or once a month, to catch up with old
friends and to make new ones. It’s healthy, it makes you feel
good, and you (we) deserve more of it.
Cheers to a happy, healthy, life shared with many great friends
and of course a bit of chocolate!
Written by: Tina Frazer
Tina Frazer is the Founder of Let’s Be Friends.net, a friendship
website for women. Let’s Be Friends.net promotes and encourages
new friendships among women of all ages* and stages of life who
share similar interests, lifestyles, and values. Our mission at
Let’s Be Friends.net is to reintroduce friendship as a priority
in women’s lives. For more information about Let’s Be
Friends.net visit http://www.letsbefriends.net
*Members must be at least 18 years old.