In partnership with
Our recent conversations about the unspoken rules of sisterhood have had me thinking a lot about the different relationships in our lives and how they intersect. That brings me to a question I think many of us have wrestled with: Can you truly be a best friend to someone when you're in a committed romantic relationship?
It's a complicated question, isn't it? When we're single, our best friends are often our primary partners in life. They're our emergency contacts, our weekend plans, our shoulders to cry on. They hold a space in our lives that is intimate and essential. But when a romantic partner enters the picture, the dynamics shift.
Suddenly, your time is divided. Your emotional energy, once poured primarily into your friendships, now has another significant place to go. The late-night calls might become less frequent, the spontaneous hangouts might need more planning. It's easy to feel like you're failing as a friend, or to feel a pang of loss for the way things used to be. It's a quiet, often unspoken, challenge in the "fight club for women"—how do we fight for our friendships when we're also building a life with someone else?
I don't believe it's a matter of choosing one over the other. But I do think it requires a redefinition of what it means to be a "best friend." Perhaps the measure of a deep, lasting friendship isn't about the quantity of time spent, but the quality of the connection that remains. It's about the understanding that even if you're not in each other's pockets every day, you are still in each other's corners.
Maybe the friendship evolves from one of constant contact to one of unwavering support, a deep-seated knowledge that no matter what, that person is there for you, and you for them. It's less about being the main character in each other's daily lives and more about being the bedrock of support that lies beneath it all.
Navigating this shift requires grace, communication, and a whole lot of love from everyone involved. It's not always easy, but I believe it's possible to have a thriving romantic relationship and deep, meaningful best friendships. They just might not look the same as they did before.
I'm curious to hear your experiences with this. How have your friendships changed as you've entered into relationships?
With love,
Strategic Style Co.
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