The Reason for Girlfriends: The Role of “Gal Pals” in your Life

Having girlfriends can enhance your life. We are not talking about a man with many female partners, but women who have other female friends in their life. If you don’t have a lot of friends, there are ways to find more.

The Love Factor

There are three types of love. We’ve discussed them before: Eros, philos and agape. Brotherly love is represented by philos. It is essential to mankind that we be “brothers in arms.”

Friendships can last longer than relationships because they are built on different parameters than a love relationship. For instance, a friend is often seen for who they are and not who we want them to be, unlike a love interest. Friends are also varied in their character traits. A wide variety of people around you can broaden your ideals about life.

A friendship can develop into a bond that can sustain you through a lot of life circumstances. Friends usually know more about us than anyone else. And they meet a need in our lives at different times.

A study conducted at the Center for Aging Studies at Flinders University, Australia, alludes to the fact that people who have a large number of friends live about 22 percent longer than those who don’t. Having a social support system that includes friends can increase survival rates when faced with conditions like cancer. A 1989 Stanford University study showed that women suffering from breast cancer lived almost twice as long as those who didn’t engage in social activities with others.

Finding Gal Pals

How can you find more girlfriends to hang around with? Here are a few suggestions for you.

• Church – Get involved in women’s groups, the choir and volunteer for other duties to meet new people.
• School – Many lasting friendships are made at college. Keep in touch with the girls you connect with here.
• Volunteer work – Get out in the community and meet other women who are helping to do the most good.
• Work – Is there anyone you are close to here? Consider meeting socially to get to know each other.

Reasons to Have Girlfriends

Gather ‘round. Or rather, gather your friends around and see how much better they make you feel.

1. Confidante – Girlfriends can share their most intimate secrets and find acceptance.
2. Advice – This extends from fashion to relationships. A true girlfriend will tell you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear.
3. Motivators – Friends can give you that boost you need to start a new self-improvement project or make a change in your life.
4. Love and support – When you need a shoulder to cry on, they are there for you. That talk in the middle of the night on the phone or a meeting for lunch can make all the difference when you are hurting.
5. Laughter – It truly is the best medicine. And when you can talk over old times and make new memories, you can live a little freer.

Girlfriends remind us who we are and also help us become who we’ve always wanted to be.

“Our friends interpret the world and ourselves to us, if we take them tenderly and truly.”

            -Amos Bronson Alcott

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