A Celebration of Female Friendship
Do you realize the blessings of female friendship? How our girlfriends make us healthier, happier, less-stressed, live longer and feel more beautiful?! Following is an article that was published previously on SmartNow, my girlfriends Julie and Lynn’s site. It’s my story on female friendship and how recognizing that blessing of girlfriends changed my life. (What are you passionate about that you need to follow?)
Debba Haupert, founder of Girlfriendology
A Celebration of Female Friendship
by Debba Haupert, Girlfriendology
Me? Just an average woman with a BIG dream, HUGE goals, and not always the precise plan for reaching either. But I do have an entrepreneurial passion and commitment to women that will see me through. I just know it.
Let’s back up. I am a marketing mutt who, after 20 years of professional business experience, understands that I don’t thrive in a corporate environment. I am an entrepreneur. I love the freedom to decide the direction of my efforts, I relish the absolute joy of creative challenges and even the sleepless nights where all I can do is think about my business. I work long hours, and financially receive not even a fraction of what I earned “on the dark side” (what my entrepreneurial girlfriends and I call corporate life!) and daily take on way more than is humanly possible.
I’m an entrepreneur.
And, I’m a woman. I love my friends, my family, my husband and pets. I want to live a life with meaning and make the world a better place, especially for women. I want to be proud of the life I live and the difference I make.
So, I combined these beliefs with the classic Oprah “follow your dreams and the money will come” message. I decided to start Girlfriendology.com – the online community for women based on inspiration, appreciation and celebration of female friendship. I often get asked how I came up with this idea and I really don’t know. (But I do know many who ask have their doubts about why we need to focus on female friendship.) I just deeply believe we need to inspire, appreciate and celebrate female friendship.
Part of this realization came when my girlfriends Dana and Allison were diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to gather up my other girlfriends and have them hug me, give me advice on how to be a friend to my girlfriends and be the comforting, supportive women who ‘get’ me.
The Tending Instinct, by Shelley E. Taylor
In the midst of this situation I found a book called “The Tending Instinct” by Shelley E. Taylor. In it she shared research on men and women from different cultures and situations, to studies done on the social actions of animals. The confirming lesson was that as females, as women, we NEED girlfriends. We have a biological response to stress to “tend and befriend”; we want to take care of our young and be with our friends. Girlfriends make us healthier, happier and less stressed.
Girlfriendology was confirmed.
I do believe I can change the world. I believe each of us can. Through Girlfriendology, I want to inspire women to make friends, spend time together, show some girlfriend gratitude and be a better friend. Hopefully that will inspire our friends to do the same for their girlfriends, and the ripple effect will reach around the world.
Do I know exactly how I’ll make this world-wide change? Kinda. I plan to grow Girlfriendology.com with inspiring interviews with women on the podcasts and videos. I challenge women to send in girlfriend stories in the monthly contests and to share comments on the Girlfriendology blog. I don’t know exactly where it will all lead but I do know that at ‘the end of the day’ I will be proud that I am an entrepreneur, I am a woman and I can make a difference in this world one girlfriend at a time.
So girlfriends, do you appreciate your female friends? Do your girlfriends mean the world to you?
What are you passionate about? Follow your dreams and encourage your girlfriends in reaching their dreams too.
Technorati tags: girlfriendology women entrepreneur women+entrepreneur female+friendship
p.s. And … be a friend to Girlfriendology! Share this blog with your girlfriends by clicking the Facebook LIKE button below and also, when you’re on our Facebook page, SHARE IT WITH YOUR GIRLFRIENDS. (Please?!) Thanks girlfriend!
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Tags: Debba Haupert, entrepreneur, female friendship, friendship, girlfriend, oprah, People, relationships, Ripple effect, smartnow, Women, women entrepreneurs
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