Enter the longest blog post title ever! There was literally no way to reduce that bad boy so apologies in advance for not being more succinct.
Amongst the beauty and fashion ramblings there's usually a few life related ideas and thoughts that I like to get out into the open... Or the blogosphere. And today I'm feeling that way inclined so I thought I'd share my ideas on friendships, acceptance, and how we can all be a little bit more like Taylor Swift.
Now I'll get onto the part about us all being like Taylor in a moment (just to confirm before you read on this is NOT a post telling you sure fired ways on how to become a famous, beautiful, well loved pop star. That's something you're all going to have to figure out on your own I'm afraid!) But before I do, let's get started on the friends and acceptance...
The last 18 months has been hugely eye opening for me in terms of friendships and acceptance. Friendship wise I've fallen out with friends, made new ones and made a hell of a lot of decisions based on the changes that have happened surrounding my friendships. Rather than ramble on for an entire paragraph about the things I've learnt I thought I'd give you some succinct (second use of that word today.... Achievement!) bullet points:
- Don't Let People Bring You Down -
No one likes a party pooper. So if you have friends who are bringing you down and making you feel like you can't achieve your dreams then it's time to move on. Which brings me nicely onto my second point...
- Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish -
You only have one life. Don't spend it surrounded by negativity. Friends are there to support and encourage and if they aren't able to do that then they aren't worth your time.
- Accept Your Friendships for What They Are -
We can't all be best friends (sorry 'bout that). But that's OK. If you were best mates with everyone in your friendship group then you'd spend a hell of a lot of time eating ice-cream at 2am when you've split up with your boyfriend/ watching Bridesmaids for the 100th time quoting every single word/ going out and getting drunk dancing to Elton John (just me?) Having a select few best friends and a good handful of fair weather ones is totally OK. We all need a few flakey mates now and again; I find they make for a great random party night out!
- Accept Your Friends for Who They Are -
We all have the mate that's always late (ME) and the friend that has the tendency to tell EVERYONE that story about how drunk you got last night. We can't all love everything about everybody and it's OK to get frustrated now and again with people's behaviour. It's important to be honest though and accept people for who they are; we all have our flaws!
- Don't Expect Too Much From People -
I know this might sound like a really harsh point to make but as a rule I tend to have pretty low expectations of people. Now bear with me on this... I spent a lot of my younger years feeling let down by people and I realised later on in life that it was because I was expecting too much. If you have unrealistic and hugely high expectations of people then you're bound to be disappointed. I now have the following 3 expectations of my friends which seem to be pretty reasonable to me:
You're kind
You like me
You enjoy spending time with me
And that's it. I'm not annoyed when they don't turn up to my Birthday party or write on my Facebook wall. I'm no longer bothered if they don't text me back for a good few days... Or weeks. Low expectations means I'm a happier person.
So.. Onto the main point in question; how we can all be a little bit more like Taylor Swift...
Last weekend I went to see Taylor play a concert at Hyde Park for the Barclaycard British Summertime festival. She was amazing (obviously) but throughout the show she shared some really important insights into her experiences with friendship and the importance of a strong circle of female (or male) friends. I used to spend a lot of time telling everyone that I was the kind of girl that "tended to get on better with guys than girls". To a certain extent that was true; my experience of female friendships throughout school wasn't great; I found girls to be nasty and I couldn't really get my head around their incessant thirst for bitchiness and back stabbing. However as I've grown up and moved into different social circles I've managed to acquire a solid circle of female friends and I honestly don't know what I'd do without them. They're all completely different and mad in their own ways but they all have one thing in common; they're kind and they make me feel like I'm understood and cared for. So what can Taylor teach us? Don't ever underestimate the importance of a strong circle of friends who've always got your back.
Lots of hugs, friendly vibes and Taylor Swiftyness
DML
X
This blog post is dedicated to my best friend Sascha. Thank you for being such an amazing friend. xxx