Advice Guru Liz Pryor Tackles Female Friendships

April 20, 2011 — -- Many women seem to feel an unspoken pressure to match the media's portrayal of female friendship. The truth is, all of us would like the strong sense of bonding and belonging, dining, laughing and shopping we see in the movies and on television between friends.

Why wouldn't we? Think of "Sex and the City" -- the perfect modern-day societal example of female friends. Do most women actually have four enmeshed girlfriends they can count on in a pinch, meet with weekly, speak with daily, and hop on a plane with on a whim for a trip to Mexico? Therein may lay one of our problems.

What has become of the modern-day woman? She is somewhere in the area of working one or two jobs, married, divorced or single, raising kids, retired and raising grandkids, cleaning, cooking, shopping, struggling, stressing, exhausted, feeding, bathing, exercising and nurturing. Frankly, the average American woman does most of these things on a daily basis. She has morphed into a multi-tasking, wildly accomplished human being who fits more into a day than ever before. Where in this life is the time to nurture and enjoy our Lucy, Ethel, Samantha, Carrie, whoever?

I've received numerous emails from women suggesting that their friendship life is in trouble. Most claim they don't have many friends anymore. Others claim they don't know how to make friends, and even more claim they aren't able to find the time. Many of us seem to put our friendship on the back burner as we try and navigate all our other responsibilities. Right or wrong, this is what we do.

Some of us seem to have made room and time for friends a little better than others. It might be time to take a beat, a step back, to try and remember what happens to your soul, to your laugh and to the meaning of your everyday life when you have a female counterpart with whom to share it all. This is truly the single greatest medicine for the female soul. We simply can not sell its value short. ... But we do.

CLICK HERE to send in a question for "advice guru" Liz Pryor!

The truth is that any "media" time women in friendship get is helpful because it's inspiring to us. It reminds us how much we covet and appreciate it. Though it's often unrealistic, the bottom line is we are reminded of the great relationships in our lives. We are moved to remember, as we watch women enjoying each other, how great it is to commiserate and figure out the world one conversation at a time.

It feels close to impossible to describe the amount of tasks and doings we have on our plates in a day, but equally fascinating is how well we manage to find the time for the things that really matter to us.

What real friendship brings is inexplicable. Though we can't describe it, we can feel it. Make time in your week to see your friends. Fit it in. Walk with her, meet for coffee, work out, have a beer, invite her over to watch you paint, just make the effort. It's the one gift you can give yourself that costs nothing and means everything!

CLICK HERE to send in a question for "advice guru" Liz Pryor!