Yesterday, we were talking about friendship at the Studio and we came to the following conclusions…
1 - You don’t need to have a plan when you get together with a friend.
You don’t need to have a party, an activity, or brunch you’re supposed to go to together. You can see a friend with nothing on the agenda, just wanting to get together and decide what you’ll do after.
2 – A true friend:
… Doesn’t judge you, but also has the right to not approve of your full body tattoo.
… Is ready to drop everything she’s doing and come to your rescue if you have an emergency, but also knows when to tell you when you’re overreacting.
… Has the right to be pissed at you when you overreact, but not for too long.
3 - A true friend:
… Doesn’t make a move on your ex.
… Doesn’t make a move on your boyfriend!!! (This stays true for crypto-moves too “Haaaa, you’re so smaaart!”)
… Doesn’t steal your friends!!! (Unless you encourage her to do so).
… Doesn’t lie to you.
4 - Best Things to Do With Friends You Don’t Have to Prove Anything to (which is the essence of true friendship, by the way)
Top 3 from the Studio:
Pizza and nail painting (From Alex, beauty queen extraordinaire).
Wiling away your entire day doing nothing, maybe end up drunk at a bar at 2 am, no one’s to blame (Me).
Sexy and the City part with ice cream on the couch (Emily, no weight issues).
Best thing to do with friends, the international renown crème de la crème friend activity:
Party the night before and spend the morning after having tea and recapping all the night’s events.
5 – A true friend would say…
“Yeah, okay, maybe you’re right. You’ve gained a few. We’ll stop our Ben & Jerry’s x couch parties for three months.”
“You look amazing in that photo!”
“That outfit just doesn’t work on you.”
“I saw your man with another woman.”
or
“Your boyfriend is amazing. Stop creating stuff in your head.”
6 - Sign that it’s a true friendship:
(or sign that your friend is very well educated, which is pretty rare)
Your friend is with some people who are magnificently cooler or amazingly more important than you (yeah, it happens)(all the time in New York) and introduces you as if you’re the greatest thing since Mac and Cheese.
7 - Some friendships die, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t beautiful and true.
8 - Stupid Problems that can Kill a Friendship if not Kept in Check:
- Jealousy: Jealousy stems from desire. Before you hate someone because she has everything you want, you usually start by loving her from everything she has. Keep yourself in check.
- Money: In friendships, as in love, everyone gives what they can, whether that be affection, money, intelligence, experience, contacts, what ever it is… You have to be generous, and let others be generous too, even if it’s just paying for coffee.
- Distance: You have to pick up the phone and call. Skype, text, whatever it is. I’m the worst at this and I can’t even get it together to respond to e-mails. Friendships have suffered… That said, I’d never hold it against a friend if they are too busy and don’t have time to call – I know they are busy, I don’t think they are forgetting me… Which maybe explains my behavior. But I know, it’s not enough.
9 - Sign of a true friendship: After three minutes of no one saying anything in a conversation, no one feels embarrassed.
10 - Unidirectional Friendships, A Problem More Frequent Than You Think.
Asking, “how are things for you?” (+ 15 minutes listening without checking your Twitter feed) is not a superfluous act.
11 - Some profound friendships can be formed in three minutes, other superficial ones can take years.
12 - With a true friend, you can be completely yourself.
You don’t need to be the girl who’s “cool with tons of friends, a great job and an awesome boyfriend, wahoooo!” You’re just you.
13 – Sign of a true friendship: Even after not seeing each other for three years, you feel like you’re picking up a conversation you didn’t quite finish the day before.
14 - Sign of a true friendship: after 35 years of friendship, you still laugh together like teenagers (my mom and her best friend, so awesome).
That’s all for now! There are many other things – Plus, I have an amazing theory about jealousy that I can tell you about next time – but for the moment, that’s what appeared to us as the base of the base of the base. Big kisses my friends !
Translation : Tim Sullivan
