No one else plays the role of our best girlfriends.

As I've embarked on the journey of business ownership and parenting, I've realized how challenging it is to maintain your friendships. Although I'm only a step-parent, we have these two little men with us exactly half the time, so I've gotten a strong dose of the challenge it is to balance ALL of the things. As they get older, and busier with games and practices, it gets even tougher.

For the last year, I've certainly found myself in a funk, more than one time. Recently, I realized it's because I miss my girlfriends. Terribly. Life gets busy, and complicated, and the list of things to do just piles up. As women, we rarely put ourselves first, so our friendships are the last thing to be cultivated.

Hear me when I say this ladies - your friendships with your fellow woman are quite possible THE most important thing in your life. They support us, nurture us, empower us, allow us to be ourselves, speak our truth in ways that no one else in our life can, and the good ones keep our secrets. Literally, no one else in our lives plays the role of our best girlfriends.

Yesterday, I skipped my stepson's basketball games for the first time for something other than work - lunch with my best friend. And guess what! No one died. Everyone made it to the game, on time, happy, healthy, and completely fine. I was able to be back in time to catch the evening game, and I enjoyed it in a way I probably wouldn't have if I would have skipped that lunch.

My point is - this is a long life. Our girlfriends will be there until the end, as long as we nurture those relationships. We need them, and they need us. You deserve to have lunch or drinks or a girls trip with your posse, without guilt or regret. Because I promise you, you'll come back to your family better, happier, and brighter.

Grab your phone right now and book that lunch. Or that coffee. And then make arrangements for everyone else in your life to survive for the day without you. I'm betting it will do everyone some good.

Hope your day is amazing - just like you.

xoxo,

Steph