This year I made a vow to be more present in the lives of my friends. I wanted to laugh with them and not just at something they posted on social media. I wanted to go out and have new experiences, try new places, and shop while staying on budget. Even though I could see what was going on with them via Instagram or Facebook I knew that I wasn’t truly being the best friend that I could be by accepting my overly played excuse of life getting in the way or just being too busy.
So, this year I reached out and said let’s come together and have a girls weekend every quarter and they happily accepted. I never really knew how much I just needed to get away and be in the comfort of my friends until after our first trip. We went absolutely nowhere exciting, just meeting up in Maryland which was basically a central location for us all. We dined, had drinks, stayed up and yelled at the TV, laughed, and shopped and explored the city of Baltimore. Would you believe me if I told you we even took a nap after breakfast on Saturday? That’s what I loved so much about the weekend, there were no expectations! Just us girls getting together to enjoy each others company.
Our second weekend brought them to Philadelphia. Due to the atrocious heat wave, we were experiencing we, unfortunately, couldn’t explore the city, but we did get in a Taco night, shopping and finished it off with Brunch at Warm Daddy’s on Sunday.
With two Girl’s Weekends in the books and the next being planned, I decided to share why these weekends have become so important to me.
- With my Girlfriends, I can be vulnerable. There’s no code-switching here. I don’t have to be on top of my game all the time, watching my back, and making sure my emails don’t come off aggressive. I can talk about what bothers me, what excites me, the things that terrify me, and what I want to see happen in my life. In turn, they can do the same.
- My girlfriends remind me that there is so much more to life than work. I have been in a work bubble for the past 6.5 years. They call it being focused (insert eye roll). I never really had time to break away from the lab to enjoy life. Even after the lab, I jumped right into a job that would be basically a 24hr gig which again left no room for me to do anything outside of work. Seeing them live their lives reminds me that there is so much more that I could be doing with mine that doesn’t involve work.
- My girlfriends are my full time hype men. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I can do it with my girlfriends hyping me up in the background. If I talk about how afraid I am to do a public talk they’ll tell me how I’m going to crush it. If I walk into Burberry and say I’m going to buy that $2400 bag one day, they reaffirm those statements by reminding me that I haven’t been working on building an empire for nothing. When I dream big they dream with me. We push each other to step outside our comfort zones and to take risk. They also check my behind with the swifitness too when I step out of line. That’s how I know they’ve truly got my back.
I’m not sure where I’d be without the love of my girlfriends. If you and your girlfriends get together for weekend getaways share some of your adventures with me. Where have you gone, what did you do? I’m always looking for ideas for out next trip.
