It’s been my experience that women get so busy taking care of everyone else that we often forget to take care of ourselves; this includes fostering our women friendships.

Between relationships, children, careers and what little time is left over, we are notorious for leaving friendship for last. This is not because we don’t value it, and I am not sure that I even have an answer for why we leave something so vital to our lives as the last thing on our list of priorities.

If your life goes from A to B and continues on to C as a typical traditional life line would look like, you may not even notice the minute amount of time spent with your female pals. It often takes unforeseen bumps in the road of life that require us to have friends to lean on, to become aware that we haven’t been watering our garden of friendship.

I went through a separation 3 years ago that came as a complete surprise to most of my female friends when it happened, because I never took the time to reach out and vent about my struggles throughout my marriage. I wanted to appear that I had it together all the time, even though I didn’t. It took that extreme of an event for me to realize that I was guilty of letting my female friendships ride in the backseat of my life.

How many times as women do we feel alone or that no one can possibly understand the daily high expectations we put on ourselves as a wife, a mother, or even just in general? Unfortunately, we feel this way a lot. We make ourselves feel as though we have to take on the world alone, fortunately for us we don’t have to, that’s what friends are for.

I feel so blessed to have an amazing group of women by my side in life. It took a while to rebuild the relationships I had, but once I took the time for them, they took the time for me. Real friends will always be there as though no time has passed, but is it really fair to let them sit on the sidelines?

It is truly important to start with educating our daughters, nieces, granddaughters and youth alike, that the most important relationship they will ever have is the one with themselves. This is why it is necessary to be surrounded by a circle of friendship that is built on women building each other up and supporting one another. If we can start this at an early age, it can be expected to have a future full of strong women who can empower each other.

Take a moment today and congratulate your long-time friend on her new job or promotion at work. Take a few minutes to call and check in on your sisters, your mother, or cousins and find out what’s going on in their world. Share successes, heartaches, and belly aching laughs. Be a cheerleader for the important women in your life. You never know who might really need it. Sometimes you have to be the first one to reach out, but once you do, you will wonder why you waited so long.

For happiness she required women to walk with. Grace Paley

Shannon McClellan

Shannon McLellan wants to live in a world where grammar is always correct, the story of love doesn’t include goodbye & more people laugh until they cry.

She is a new entrepreneur running a social media tutoring business for seniors & boomers, a blogger, a full time employee as a youth small business consultant, and not to mention, a separated mother of 2.  Shannon has been relentlessly pounding the pavement taking on each new opportunity as they arise. You can read about her journey on her Blog.

When she’s not aiding others to the path of being social media savvy, you can find her with her nose stuck in a book, dancing in her kitchen with her kids while cooking up a storm, or with her eyes glued to the latest social media feed. Shannon also enjoys volunteering for the local Relay for Life since 2011.

Get social with Shannon on Facebook, Twitter, or Twitter @onthelinecom or on  Instagram