I’ve been struck with a lightening bolt of inspiration over this past weekend and I just feel compelled to share some insight on long term friendships that has become quite clear to me lately.
bare with me, let’s rewind…
I grew up and spent all of my life in Southern California. A majority of the time I felt I was coming into my own and making long term friendships was back when I used to work at the Disneyland Resort. (Yes, I worked at Disneyland & no I wasn’t a princess haha!) I started working there when I was 19 years old and spent 6 years of my life full time sharing the same space with Mickey Mouse! After spending so much time there, you can only imagine I grew very close with the people I worked with.
There were 5 of us. 5 girls who came from all over the resort working in different locations the first 2 years of our time at Disneyland just to find ourselves in the same department. These 4 girls have been the essence of my being since day one. Meeting each other working in this department I can say is one the best times of my life. We were inseparable. Whenever one of us worked with the other or all 5 of us were sitting together at lunch whatever, everyone else we worked with were envious of our bond. We did EVERYTHING together. we shared EVERYTHING with each other. We were more than 5 best girl friends, we were like sisters. I’m sure many of you can relate to a friendship similar to this.
As all journey’s come to an end…unfortunately so did this one. It was hard at first when I was the first one to get a second job, and at the time the only thing keeping me at Disney was these 4 girls. I tried to hold on to working two jobs on what seemed like opposite sides of the world, it just became too much. When I separated from the company, I did my best to still be around and make the effort to stay connected. If you have ever been in this situation, you know how difficult that can’t be, especially when you still live 35 minutes away from them and your new job is almost 2 hours away in the opposite direction with LA traffic. oooooh the miles i put on my car during this time smh…haha. It was difficult but we pushed through. As the time went on each one of us started to slowly fade from working at the parks by getting new jobs and moving forward in our career path. One of us even got married in between that time! (yes we were all bridesmaids and it was an unforgettable time!) Eventually, we found ourselves only speaking through our group text maybe once a week due to our new lives. I can say it was quite hard on me as these girls were my rocks for so long and I’m sure they felt the same way. Sure we had other friends we were close with but our bond was something special.
As time went on, I made a conscious decision for my career and well being to leave the state. That was probably one of the most emotional and hardest things I have ever had to do with these girls. Needless to say my going away dinner was happy and fun and turned into crying, lots of hugs, and sharing hilarious stories from our years of being absolutely inseparable. However, it was a move I needed to make and the fact that the closest human beings to my heart were so supportive was all that mattered. I have now lived in my new state for almost six months now and in the first 3 months I had traveled home at least once each month. Unfortunately now, all the girls are in relationships, in different work schedules, school schedules, and it was hard to make a plan for us all to be together and with our busy lives. It was even getting harder and harder to keep in contact other than our occasional group text conversations. (By the way, our group text is named, “My Main Bitches” so that should give you an idea of how we are ahah!). Coming on my sixth month of living out of state and not traveling home in a while, I decided it was time to go home and really do our best to get together.
This is what inspired this post for me today. The moment I said I was coming home for the weekend, after thinking about how much I missed them almost everyday that week, and day dreaming about how fun it would be to hang out again and laugh harder than ever with my best friends, the universe aligned and EVERYONE was available. I felt like I truly manifested this perfect weekend into my life, (I see you universe!) I drove 4 in a half hours straight after a long day at work HYPED UP on energy drinks to stay awake & see them. The moment I did my heart was just filled with pure joy! I swear I teared up like 10 times the whole weekend just being with them and having little emotional moments. We were able to spend the whole weekend together going out, sharing stories, drinking wine….(5 bottles of wine in one of their apartments…hahaha), learning where we are in our love lives, career paths, and mindset and it was wonderful. It was the best food for my soul. My heart is still crying from how hard I laughed and how full it was with love.
They inspired me. They inspired me that true friendships are a real thing. Nothing else matters in this world other than the positive people in your life that support every part of you. They showed me that no matter what life throws at us, no matter where we go in our journey, no matter how much time passes without speaking, the moment we are all together again, it’s as if no time has passed at all. These are the kind of healthy relationships every person should have in their lifetime. Never settle for a friend who is half ass. Only there for you if it benefits them, always brings you down, doesn’t support your dreams, or is your own personal “debbie downer”. Those are the kind of people you need to avoid in this world. THEY ARE TOXIC. If you wouldn’t give your body or your dog toxic food, why would you feed your mind and soul with the toxic energy of negative fake friends? Just know that not everyone you loose is a loss. We as humans out grow people just like we outgrow our pants and shoes and our interest in Paul Frank binders and folders from like 5th grade (hollaaa if that was you! haha) Rise above those people and kill them with kindness. Bring yourself to a state of gratitude and be grateful that your mind is open enough to know what you want and to know the energy you wish to give to yourself and to the people around you.
If you are trying to better yourself and your friend of 10 years is trying to bring you down, just because they have been your friend for 10 years doesn’t mean they’re being a good friend. You should be able to grow with the friends you have and recognize the good in each other rather than feeling shattered every time you bring up something good that has happened in your life. That is not okay. Outgrow the ones that are stuck and let them stay there. Grow with the ones who want to join you in making their life and this world a more enjoyable place to live.
True friendships live within the heart. The ones that light you up and make you feel like you can expose your entire soul to them by laughing, crying, sobbing, getting angry, arguing, etc. and they’re still there talking you through it and consoling you and bringing you to a stable mindset about your life no matter the situation…they are the real ones. I felt all of these emotions being with my 4 best friends this past weekend and it was exactly what I needed. I have seen so much growth in each and every one of them and to know everything we have all been through ( because don’t get me wrong, we’re a bunch of girls, we definitely had our ups and downs over the years….talk about DRAMA hahaha) we’re still right by each others side supporting each other and lifting each other up in every which way possible.
Sometimes feelings like this can get lost when you don’t talk everyday or see each other everyday, especially like us considering we all spent over 8 hours a day with each other. Don’t loose sight of who is important in your life. They are who matters. They are your rocks. Tell them you love them and reciprocate the support you feel and make those friendships last a lifetime because after this weekend, that was my lesson from the universe. I know these 4 females are stuck with me as I am to them, forever. I know now that the universe aligned our souls to connect for so many reasons. Each one of us brings something unique to the table. A strange type of dynamic that just works. It works for a reason and I’m so eternally grateful for their souls touching my heart and for us being as close as we are. To be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Remember to always love yourself and know your worth and only bring your ora around those who bring positive to your life. Trust that universe has a plan for everyone you meet and the ones who are meant to stay and impact your life will do so greatly and the ones who aren’t meant to stay are there to show you that you are strong enough to let go negativity and toxicity and move forward to be the shining light you’re supposed to be!
