Celebrating Best Friends Day

New York, NY, June 08, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Best Friends Day (June 8) is sandwiched in between Mothers Day and Fathers Day, but it doesn’t get anywhere near the hoopla surrounding those two days. But if you are fortunate enough to have a long-time best friend then you know the value it brings to your life. For women in particular, research shows that friendship can be crucial for your health. A landmark UCLA study suggested that women respond to stress differently than men. The oxytocin that is released in women under stress leads them to tend and befriend rather than fight or take flight as men are more likely to do. Women offer each other comfort, empathy and connection; something that research has shown is beneficial to their health.

As women stay single longer, often outlive their male mates and as roughly 1 in 3 marriages end in divorce, women and their female friends are likely to be together longer than many male/female marriages. So it is time for us to celebrate female friendships and avoid the stereotypes that often pervade our culture with the notion that women are mean to each other and not to be trusted.

To find out how much value women’s friendships offer, you have only to read the heartfelt stories from women who have lost their best friends at Friendship Dialogues. FriendshipDialogues.com is a community website for women to talk about the power and importance of their friendships with other women and how they have coped when those friendships have ended. The site was inspired by the loss that founder Ellen Pearlman experienced when her best friend of 40 years, Madeleine Moger, died in 2003. “I always thought Madeleine and I would grow old together, but when she died at 58 I was bereft,” says Pearlman. Thirteen years later, I am still navigating her loss.”

The website (www.friendshipdialogues.com) was born out of Pearlman’s desire to provide a testimonial to female best friends and create a way for women to voice their feelings about what a best friend means to them. Friendship Dialogues gives women a place to share their memories of their friendships with other women and a comforting place to talk about their relationships.

The women’s stories about their best friends are meant to honor the bonds of friendship as well as the individual women who have been such valued friends. Popular culture often depicts women as bitchy, backstabbing and catty, but women who share rich intimate lives with other women know this is as far as possible from the truth. “If a woman is lucky enough to have a lifelong woman best friend, she knows the joy, confidence and support that friend provides to her life,” says Pearlman. Friendship Dialogues seeks to share that knowledge with all women and girls.

Visitors to Friendship Dialogues can read the stories of friendship as well as add their own stories to the website. There is an easy-to-use form on the site that will allow women to submit their stories and photos about a best friendship that has endured.