11/06/2022
āWomen supporting women.ā
āCircle.ā
āTribe.ā
āTable.ā
āSquad.ā
I see these words come through my phone and news feed all the time.
Iāve used them myself a lot in the past couple years.
But what do they actually mean?
I am truly serious when I ask this.
Because those words donāt really seem to hold much weight anymore to me, if Iām being honest.
Not because I wouldnāt like to believe in them.
I just rarely do anymore.
Women love to toss those words around like confetti. If you go on social media, you will see posts about fast friendships and overtures about how they have found their people.
We are humans. We have this need to belong, to be part of something. To even be liked. To find common ground.
We hope to feel understood and wanted. We hold on to high hopes that we have found someone to share our secrets....that they will be safe. We are relieved if we think we have found others to confide our worries, struggles and hard with until four am and laugh over a glass of wine.
Sometimes we get invited. Other times, we show up, take a leap of faith, introduce ourselves and test the waters.
But do these GROUPS of SUPPORTIVE women actually exist in reality?
Iām talking about multiple women who truly believe in the phrase āwe rise by lifting others.ā
āWe have each otherās back.ā
When someone says that, what do you think about? What does that entail?
A Loyalty? Honesty? Trust?
When they throw around the words like āfriendā, āsisā, āsisterā, ābestieā, āI love youā and āI appreciate youā, āclapping for youā etc. do they actually hold any weight or meaning?
If you join a ātableā and they say, āyou can sit with usā, what are you being invited to exactly?
How fast and easy do you let your guard down?
How quickly do you think you fit in or belong?
How do you really know whatās real and whatās not?
How well do you know them? How much time has to pass before their true colors show?
Before they SHOW you who they really are?
And will you belive it the first time? Or it will a take a second time or more?
I write this because I canāt pretend anymore or keep what has happened a secret anymore.
Holding this all in has been awful for my mental health.
Pretending has just led me down a dark, deep rabbit hole I have not been able to climb out of.
The hurt and feelings of loss, anger and betrayal that I have endured in the past two years by multiple women doesnāt seem to wane for me.
Women I thought were my friends.
Genuinely.
Women I thought were other peopleās friends.
Women that I thought were supporting other women.
And me.
I was supporting them.
The tears havenāt stopped falling. The pains in my head and chest have yet to cease.
Not even a little.
And because of it Iām just so lost.
And Iām so tired of feeling like this.
Itās a tired that sleep canāt fix.
Itās a pain that time hasnāt been able to heal.
Perhaps this is you too.
Maybe this resonates with you. Maybe youāve been burned by these types of āsupportiveā groups and the ache still lingers.
Maybe youāve lost trust in most women and struggle to build new friendships because the old ones left wounds too deep and you just canāt seem to find the courage to try again.
Maybe you think itās you. And youāre better off alone because the next ones wonāt like you either.
And itās ok to not be liked. Not everyone gets along or is each otherās cup of tea.
Itās about thinking you have support when you really donāt. Itās about finding out the truth about people.
If you claim to be a person who supports other women then let me remind you of the things that donāt back that statement up...
Gossiping and saying things about someone you wouldnāt say to their face.
Taking their hard, their most awful moments in life and making fun of them or judging them.
Having multiple secret group meetups, texts and messages not including a person/people so you can talk about them in horrible ways.
Creating memes to make fun of someone.
Pretending to be someoneās friend and using them purely for financial gain, status and social climbing.
Treating everything like a competition and not supporting another womanās success.
Itās not a table I ever want to sit at..whether they are doing those things to me or someone else.
I wonāt sit with the mean girls. Iāll walk away.
I wonāt turn a blind eye, condone it or be a bystander to it.
Itās not a group of women I want to support, ever.
In fact, itās the opposite of everything I believe supporting women and lifting up others means.
Real support is looking out for one another, empowering each other and helping each other see their self-worth.
That is what real friends do.
Written by Sheryl St. Aubin Three Little Birds-Raising Kids On The Autism Spectrum
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