Benefits of a Girls With Dreams Friend Circle

Having a close group of girl friends to talk to or hang out with has tons of benefits. A new study shows that having a close-knit group of friends might protect you from harmful relationships. Here are a few other reasons to start your own Girls With Dreams Friend Circle:

• It’s a ton of fun!
• You have friends ready to help you deal with whatever comes your way.
• It’s a great way to share ideas about life, from boy drama to preparing for college.
• You can give back to the community, like Molly did with Polar Swim.
  
• It’s a great excuse to get creative and do activities you might not try on your own.

Have you started your Friend Circle yet? We’d love to hear what you’re up to!

Start Your Own GWD Friend Circle!

The most important part of starting your own Girls With Dreams Friend Circle is choosing who you want to be with. This might take some time. It’s okay if you don’t have the group decided on today. Here’s how to get started:

Decide what type of people you want to surround yourself with. Imagine a circle full of positive and supportive girls who lift each other up! Start a new journal for your Friend Circle stuff and dedicate a page to writing down what’s important to you.

List 3-7 girls who meet your criteria. If you only know one person, that’s okay. You can start by talking to her. If you’re not sure who you want to invite yet, that’s okay too. It’s really important to have the right group of people surrounding you instead of rushing into forming it. 

Open up. Be clear about what you want and remind yourself of the type of people you want to be with. Next, ask yourself if you are living up to the same criteria. Ever hear of that idea you atract what you are?  

Start inviting! When you find someone you want to be in your group, ask them. You might even share the links here to show them more about it. You can also watch the videos at www.youtube.com/girlswithdreams

Pick a time to meet. Your group will officially be ready to start when you have all 4-8 of you. Feel free to start informally before then, though. If you don’t all live near each other, decide when you can call and talk. And, if you do live in the same town, decide where you want to talk and how often. You might decide once a week or maybe it will be only once a month.

We’ll be sharing more tips here.

What is a GWD Friend Circle?

The Girls With Dreams Friend Circle has arrived!

We are so excited to launch this new idea. The idea of a Friend Circle has been around for a long time, but we’re excited to let you know what it means to us! The concept is similar to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but so much more!

Basically, a GWD Friend Circle is a group of 4 to 8 girls who have come together to support each other. You might all live in the same town, but you don’t have to. You can connect by phone, email or Web cam. As a group, you agree to meet once a month. You give each person time to talk and share what’s new with her, and then share ideas about how the group might help. You also plan fun things to do together. Part of your plan might be to reach out to others in the community.

Don’t worry, though! We’re going to take you through this step-by-step process and help you create your own GWD Friends Circle! Once your circle is up and running, we’d love to hear from you! We’re going to be posting videos, tips, and ideas from girls just like you. We want you all to share what types of things you’re learning and doing together in your circles.

Why is this so important?

If you’ve ever felt alone…

If you’ve ever felt you don’t measure up…

If you’ve ever believed you couldn’t do something….

We need each other to succeed! Our Friend Circles can get us through tough times, be a place for us to laugh, cry, support each other, and have a good time! Our Friend Circles can help us all live our BIG DREAMS!

Make New Friends

Studies have shown that girls throughout the world rely heavily on relationships. This makes sense, right? You call your friends when you need a laugh or a cry, you obsess over your crush, your family always comes in as a top priority. People are important to all of us.

So it makes sense that as we reach new places in our lives, we need to keep expanding our circles. What am I trying to say? Make new friends, but keep the old.

Camp is the perfect place to do just that. Grab an old pal and sign up for a day or sleepaway camp. Camp is a great chance to meet new people who share your interests. Last year, a group of friends and I went to a month-long sleepaway camp together. We knew a bunch of girls that had already gone, and we figured “Why not give them a chance, they could introduce us to friends from all over the country!” We walked out of that camp with friends from Washington D.C., Texas, Illinois, all over America, and even some from Israel! It was such a great experience — so great that we’re all going back this summer.

That is why girls rely so heavily on their friends. In a place where you’ve never been, such as a new sleepaway camp, it can be scary to think that you’re all alone. But the reality is, you’re surrounded by a bunch of potential friends.

Can Schools Help Prevent Dating Violence?

With the recent attention on dating violence, we wanted to share ideas on how schools can play a bigger role in preventing it. Watch other teen girls give their ideas here.

Here are a few other suggestions you might try at your school:

• Organize an awareness week about dating violence. Invite a speaker or plan a program to illustrate the topic. The Yellow Dress is a great example, and you can find out more here.
• Distribute ribbons or wristbands or something along those lines as a reminder to end dating violence.
• Talk to your student government and get them involved. Consider partnering with other schools in your area to get more awareness.
• You can always start small. Talk to your group of friends, or your own Girls With Dreams Friend Circle and agree to take a stand against violence in relationships.

Self-Esteem and Confidence in Teen Girls

Why are self-esteem and confidence such big problems for teen girls? More importantly, how can we all work together to build each other up? I know I struggled with confidence as a teen, and I still have challenges with it. I think if you talk to most women, on some level, having a positive self-image can be challenging at times. I want to change this! Don’t you? Here’s a few tips to get you started. Also, be sure to watch other teens sharing their tips in this confidence builders video.

Start with the positives. What areas allow you to excel? What makes you feel confident?

Make a pact with your friends (or your Girls With Dreams Friend Circle). Agree to remind each other when you’re talking in a negative way about yourself. Promise to help lift each other up instead.

Write a positive message about yourself and stick it on your mirror. It might say, “I’m beautiful” or “I’m a great softball player” or “I’m a great volunteer.”

Reach out. Ask people you admire how they developed their self-esteem and confidence.

Are You Ready for Your Best Life?

Whether you believe in resolutions or not, it always seems like the start of a new year is a time of reflection and renewal. I have so many exciting things planned for all of our Girls With Dreams friends this year! Some I’ve shared before and others I will keep as a surprise. For now, I wanted to give you something to get your New Year off to a great start! Below are three of the things I will be blogging about soon! Watch for a new post on each of these to find out how you can start creating your best life today!

Put yourself first by taking care of yourself.

December News at Girls With Dreams

As the founder of Girls With Dreams, I wanted to fill you in on all of the fun and exciting things coming soon!

I was in Vegas last weekend, hanging out with my mastermind group, The Billionaire Girls Club. We are dedicated to helping each other and Igniting Women to Create Billions in Impact for Global Good. Finding your own support group of 4-8 friends can be a huge help. In fact, we are going to help you start your own Girls With Dreams Friendship Circle. In 2009, watch for more tips and information to help you get started. You’ll also hear from other girls who are doing the same thing!

Part of our trip included a visit to Zappos Headquarters. Zappos is the most amazing company! You find great shoes, purses, and clothes at their Web site, but more importantly, they are making the world a better place through excellent customer service! I was so impressed with them, I plan to blog more about the life lessons I learned from the core values and mission statement at Zappos.

Watch out for new videos in 2009! I hope to share more quick tips on life, beauty, dating, friends, and so much more!

Finally, I’ve been super busy finishing the manuscript for the new book, Secrets Girls Keep, expected to release in Fall 2009, published by HCI.

Keep Dreaming Big and help your friends do the same! I always love to hear from you, whether it’s a comment on the site, specific tips or advice you want to share, or topics you want us to write about!  You can reach us at info@girlswithdreams.com.