169. What I Learned Over My Girls’ Weekend

Last weekend I met up with four of my closest girlfriends. We do this every year. We try very hard to hang out in a house where we don't have to leave, where we can wear sweatpants and eat as much food as humanly possible. I hope that this episode really inspires you to go out there and find your people. I want to share three things I observed with these women over this weekend. It was a place where we could address what we need as humans, what we need as friends, and what we need as moms. Only two of out of the five have had children, and it was so interesting to see sort of what dominated the conversation and what didn't. The friendship we share was forged during a challenging time for all of us. (For me, I had just called off an engagement.) What we bring to each other is that we talk about our addictions, we talk about what we're struggling with, we talk about our current relationships, what's great, what's not working, and we talk about what we really love. We talk about what really matters with 100% acceptance. The first thing that I learned over this weekend is that rest is not a luxury. Rest is a necessity. Every single one of us talked about how amazing it was to be able to turn off work, to be able to leave our families. We love them, but we needed to not do all the invisible work. If you have been feeling tired, I want you to schedule rest into your calendar right now intentionally. I think that is critical. This is not nice to have, especially not now. I think, coming out of the pandemic and coming out of the restructuring we've all done, we need to make sure we're resting because rest looks different now, doesn't it? So many people are working from home. I rarely leave my house. I work. I take care of the kids. I clean the house. Then I plan for work the next day, and I work in the house and then I walk the dog. I know I'm not special. Most of us have a schedule that's very similar now, even people who work for corporations, so I think it's critical that you understand when you need rest and how to get it. The second thing I learned is how important it is to have playmates in our sandbox. I talk about this a lot to my own coach. What’s cool about my group of friends and where I do think we're very lucky is that two of us are entrepreneurs. One of us is a stay-at-home mother, and two work for corporations now. That combo is really great because we get to share different aspects and perspectives on life. But each of us has someone to turn to when we need a deeper conversation. There's a really great book by Shasta Nelson called Friendships Don't Just Happen!: The Guide to Creating a Meaningful Circle of GirlFriends I recommend. She breaks down that each of us can have different groups of friends, and that's totally appropriate. You might have your work friends, your dance mom friends, and old friends from, you know, childhood or your early twenties.  Each one of those groups is going to serve a different purpose and that's OK. I think it's really important that we understand that you never want to make yourself feel wrong for who you're hanging out with. Chances are you need something from them. If you no longer do or feel like you're constantly giving and not getting back, it's probably time to release those friendships. And the third thing I learned was the importance of sharing. I know that sounds funny. I had so much fun talking about different books. One of us has just totally dived headfirst into serious meditation, and she was sharing that with us, and we are talking about moving. We were talking about children. We were talking about how hard it is for parents, and as much as we love our children, why didn't anybody tell us it was going to be this hard? How much of a role is the internet playing in that? We talked about our health rights, were, as we're all getting older. Our health needs are changing. Who's going for a walk right now? Who's going to take a break right now? Those sorts of conversations were happening, and I think we loved sharing with each other what works. Each one of us had a turn to say: you know, it's really hard for me right now, and we got to talk about that, and I really want to encourage you not only to put rest in your calendar after you listen to this episode. I want you to start fighting for friendships. The only reason that this friendship between the five of us has lasted as long as it has is that we love each other. And every single year -- except during the pandemic -- we have fought to be in the same room for one weekend. We have fought to be together, to be with each other, to remind each other of what matters, to work through issues that you can't talk about with everybody, and to tell the truth about where life is standing. Also, to inspire each other. I think every single one of us left this weekend with new goals, new ideas, and inspired actions, we could take. I want to encourage you to fight for your people. Go find the people in your sandbox, schedule your rest, do it with someone you love, and then make sure you're sharing from your heart. Let’s get to it! Other Game On Girlfriend podcast episodes you might want to check out:  Demand What You Need https://sarahwalton.com/demand/  How (& When) to Break Up With Friends https://sarahwalton.com/break-up/  The Power of Mastermind Groups https://sarahwalton.com/mastermind-group-benefits/  How ‘The Walking Dead’ Save My Business (No Really!) https://sarahwalton.com/walking-dead/  Check out the book “Friendships Don’t Just Happen” : https://amzn.to/3JDZOT4  You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton  Thank you so much for listening. I’m honored that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking “Write a review.” Then we’ll get to inspire even more people! (If you’re not sure how to leave a review, you can watch this quick tutorial.)  #BossWomen #WomenEmpowerment #GirlsWeekend #SelfCare #Resting #FriendshipGoals #Vulnerability #SuccessfulWomen #IntuitiveBusinessCoach #BusinessCoach