This one goes out to the ladies…

This week I want to take a moment to thank those people that really keep relationships in check… the friends/the confidants/the ladies.

Now some might wonder… what do your friends have to do with romantic relationships? Well, I’ll tell you…EVERYTHING.

I’m not just talking about approving or disapproving of a significant other, cause let’s be real, you can’t expect everyone to like a new beau. But having those friends that you can talk to about your relationship (whether your definition of friend in this case is man, woman, mother, or psychiatrist) is CRUCIAL.

My friends just GET ME. In Grey’s Anatomy terms, this is “Your Person”. They know exactly who I am, so they tell me like it is, they know when I’m calling bullshit, and they know when I’m not being myself. Therefore, my friends are perfect for talking about relationships with.

Here is an example: I was dating a gentleman, (we might all remember him as the one I saluted), and he met a few of my friends. My friends didn’t hate him- he was exactly my physical type and was older and successful, but they totally knew he wasn’t right for me. They called me out like nobody’s business and acknowledged the fact that I was dating him for the wrong reasons- reasons only, that they being my friends would know about me, that others would not clearly see. They acknowledged everything that I knew was true that I just hadn’t been able to express outloud. And I’m so happy they did.

I cannot emphasis strongly enough how much these relationships mean to me. When I want to go crazy hypothetical, when I want to bitch about something so little that it shouldn’t be bitched about, when I get myself riled up for no real reason, my friends keep me in check. They tell me to slow down, to breathe, and that they’ve been there too.

To know that my friends have been in the same situations, felt the same things, or know me so well that they understand why I feel the way I do, keeps my relationship in perspective and my relationship is better for it.

So ladies- thank you.

So I ask you, do you have the confidants? Who is “Your Person”? I’d love to hear!

Let’s talk.

Happy Thursday y’all!

Lauren Schaefer

Lauren Schaefer is a nonprofit event planner, comedy improviser, avid blogger and New York City single lady. She documents her own new journey as a young professional in New York at her blog From the Fifth Floor.