The Importance of Female Friendships
There’s nothing quite like catching up and loving on your girlfriends. It’s an irreplaceable feeling of community that is very special to the female spirit. Is this because there’s an “ancient gene” associated with female mammals?
Delia Owens explored this thread of curiosity in her fourth book, Where The Crawdad’s Sing. Among being a best-selling author, Owens holds a PhD in Animal Behavior. Her first three books were Non-Fiction; documenting the adventures and scientific studies of her work in Africa. Although, Where The Crawdad’s Sing is a novel, it was curiously inspired by her work in animal behavior…
“I came up with the idea of writing a novel that would explore how much isolation would change a young girl who was forced to grow up on her own…
As I watched the lionesses of the blue pride tumble and play with their cubs and each others cubs, or sleep in lazy piles in the afternoon sun with their paws draped over each others faces… it made me realize how I was separated from my group.
I no longer had a group of girlfriends, and I felt very isolated and separated from my troop. I began to realize more and more how isolation and loneliness can effect a person; can change a person.”
It reminds me of this delightful moment in the school of greatness podcast featuring Danielle LaPorte:
Lewis: How can someone create a wellness support system?”
Danielle: laughing with pure joy "Oh well, you gotta text your girlfriends obssessively every day.”
Danielle: her laughter dissipates and she pivots smoothly into a soulful tone. "Yeah, it's a religion."
On an ending note, here’s a poem titled Soul Sister as an ode to the special women in my life.
