Building Healthy relationships is a fundamental part of our lives. We were created relational beings and it is impossible for us to live truly fulfilling lives without having healthy relationships.
I always insist that every woman needs a tribe; I define a tribe as a group of people or friends who are committed to bringing out the best in one another and have each other’s back. This is not to say that a tribe must be a group of people that know each other. It just means that you have friends and sisters who hold your hands in time of trouble, people that you can enjoy life with, hang out with, run your dreams by and people that will stand in the gap for you when you are going through a difficult patch.
The importance of a tribe cannot be over emphasized. Studies have shown that when women get married, the most pivotal relationships they have, apart from their marital one, is the one with their girlfriends. Marriage is important, but a girl also needs her friends.
Do you have healthy relationships? Are there people in your life that support you? Do you journey through life alone or do you have people to journey through life with? Are there people you can run your dreams by? What are you doing to ensure that you are actually building healthy relationships? Do you create time in your schedule to spend with people and build healthy relationships?
One of the things I insist on during coaching classes is fun. People must find time to have fun every week. Have a few minutes of ‘me’ time every day. But once a week, do something fun, watch a movie, just hang out with your friends.
I watched a movie recently with my friends turned sisters titled ‘Otherhood’. It was about 3 women whose sons had left the house and had a beautiful friendship. My friends and I could identify ourselves in each character and we teased ourselves about which one of them each of us would end up as. When our nests are empty, these friendships sustain us.
At the end of our lives, one of the things we will value most, is the relationships we have discovered, most importantly the value it adds.
The Bible talks about iron sharpening iron; when you have the right set of people, you sharpen one another, encourage one another to be the best that you can be. Friendships are beneficial.
If you know you are in a toxic relationship; a relationship that does not encourage, does not bring out the best in you, one which you are not yourself or not free to be you, that is a relationship you might want to re-evaluate.
If you don’t have a tribe today, please ask the Lord to send you a tribe. They do not have to know or be connected to each other, but they have to be people that constantly encourage you and allow you to be yourself with them.
Healthy Relationships are at the core of what makes life worth living.
