Sisterhood
A little over 2 months ago, my friend got a new apartment and asked if myself and our other friend could help her with moving. And of course, we were game. So the three of us spent the day together, moving appliances and bags of clothes to the new place, cleaning, tidying and organising. We had a good time and it really reinforced one of the things that matter the most to me — sisterhood.
My earliest idea of what sisterhood is and ought to look like, stems from my family. I have no biological sisters, but my mother is one of four. From picking my brother and I up from school to relieve her of some responsibility, to pooling money together to support each other’s projects — I have seen on countless occasions how much they love, fiercely support and never fail to show up for each other. My first-hand experience of their bond is probably the reason I have now grown up to be a girl’s girl to the very core.
I love a lot of things about us, how we are more emotional — a term often used to connote weakness but really means more sensitive, more empathetic and more expressive, which are pretty great qualities to me. How we can be very intuitive and discerning. While I have some male friends who I equally appreciate, nothing really compares to friendships with people like me, who regardless of our individual differences, can see things the way that I do, because they have and continue to experience life in similar ways that I have, so really just get it. And in ways that a man, no matter how kind or well-meaning, is just not be able to.
However, this isn’t to imply that we are somehow better. An expectation of moral superiority simply because we’re women, like the writer Chimamanda says, robs us of our humanity. Because although some of my kindest encounters and fondest memories have been with women, I’ve also been unlucky. But isn’t this what makes up the human experience? There are good people and there are those who are not, and even though we sometimes get burned, we try again till we meet the ones who we fit just right with. So a few negative experiences can’t shake what I know to be true, and that is that women are amazing.
Seeking out genuine bonds with other women and nurturing my already existing ones, is something I try to do with as much intentionality as possible. I also try to be kinder, more supportive and reliable, because just as exemplified in the story earlier shared, much of friendship and in this case sisterhood, is really about showing up and just being there. Female friendships are a real blessing, and I hope we all find the ones with whom we can be vulnerable and walk this crazy life with— there’s nothing quite like it!
Happy International Women’s Day!
