#friendsarefamily
I am a big believer in tribes & troops. I mean having a trusted group of friends who have you back in life. My friends have got me through major things, #friendsarefamily rings true for me who has such a small family. My friend Gem took me into her home for 3 months after a 5-year relationship ended. My friend Becky has life coached me my entire adult life. My friend Neil rescued me from Brixton at 6am one morning when stranded in London (that’s another story, saved for my biography).
My Teenage Tribe
I am a very lucky girl who places much trust and faith in her friends. It all goes back to my teenage years I’m thinking. After mum died when I was 16, was a strange time. I don’t have many memories that stand out, but I do remember going out with my best girlfriends the very same night in Penzance to go drinking/dancing to forget what had happened. I did forget for a few moments. My friends were rocks that night, despite us just being the tender age of 16. Those buddies are still my there now, one of whom I speak to most days!
My Uni girls and GBF.
At the age of 18 I left home, I left Penzance for London, 300 miles away for university. Some would say I ran from the horror of a small town where everyone knew my business. I was done with Penzance (where my small family lived), my mum had gone, my dad has remarried, so I was done. I made friends quickly at university and am still very close to the very same friends I met that first week at uni. We are all off to a spa weekend, just the 4 of us in a few weeks’ time to celebrate our joint 40th birthday. We have been through so much together as friends. Relationship breakdowns, deaths of parents, marriages, babies. We were all each others bridesmaids.
Knebworth Troop
Right now I am very fortunate to have 2 close tribes. I have a troop (we call ourselves a troop) of local friends. Brought together by our children but bonded over nights out, summer BBQ’s, wine and coffee. We have each others backs in the world of the school playground. You know that world, where there are a multiple of cliques and you need to have your own! The local connection is great. It means when we have a spare random couple of hours we can sit outside our houses (one girl is my neighbour!) in the sun with a drink (normally wine or a can of Fosters) and watch the children play in our cul-de-sac. We are always helping each other out with childcare when stuck.
I popped over the road for a coffee on Sunday (when I should have been writing) and in that hour we managed to discuss incontinence, c-sections, the power of positive thinking, not giving a f@@@ as you get older, sex, money saving tips, coffee machines…um the list goes on. Friends like these are amazing.
Blogger Tribe
The word tribe is often referred to in the blogging. As a group of collaborative people who work together for the greater good. I am incredibly blessed to have a tribe in the blogging world. A group of bloggers who look out for me, and me for them. We will recommend each other for jobs, we will work together on guest posts. We will stick up for each other if we see any negative conversations online involving each other.
They are there to help when I have a technical issue or problem. They are there when a PR contact or brand contact is needed. Or an idea for a blog post. We join each other at events. We help each other price up jobs. We are all in the same field of blogging but have different niches so never feel like we are in competition with each other. This is how blogging should work. We should have eachothers backs and make eachother stronger.
What’s your troop like? Is it work pals, or school friends? School mums or uni pals?
