Girlfriends have amazing conversations. Celebrating these friendships is at the heart of the book The 50/50 Friendship Flow by Shari Leid. Here is my review of it!
Disclosure: I received a physical copy of this book in return for an honest review
The friendship challenge
The 50/50 Friendship Flow is part self-help, part empowerment, and part celebration of girlfriends.
The challenge that Shari Leid undertook and the one she encourages readers to take, even on a smaller scale than what she did, is the “50/50” challenge. Leid set off to have 50 dates with 50 female friends within one year. That’s where the book title comes from.
Her goal? To deepen friendships. The author was turning 49 and had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. As Leid explains in the book, she realized life is short and wanted to tell females in her life what she valued and learned from them by meeting for in-person gal dates.
Each chapter is a date. Each chapter has a life lesson from one girlfriend, and each one ends with a journal prompt to encourage the reader to look further inward and at relationships.
Leid encourages readers to have similar dates with their girlfriends, even with five friends, to deepen connections. She encourages this positive lifestyle and being grateful.
An uplifting read
After reading several emotionally heavy books, it was nice to have this lighter read. It was easy and fast to go through each chapter. I read several chapters at a time.
The lessons of the chapters vary widely. The ones that most resonated with me were that the power of a smile cannot be underestimated, recognizing your unique value in the world, and putting efforts into friendship will strengthen the bonds.
Throughout The 50/50 Friendship Flow are quotes from the author. If you want to find out more about this friendship-savvy woman, check out my interview with Shari Leid.
The 50/50 Friendship Flow: Thought-provoking
While Leid might not have anticipated it, the spotlights on 50 of her friends was interesting in itself. Learning about 50 females’ backgrounds is fun and encouraging, as Leid explained the challenges they had overcome.
However, I did find myself feeling a bit less put-together than several of the 50 females, who seemed to have it all together now, even if they didn’t before. While I have lessons to share, I don’t feel as composed as several of the spotlighted females. Still, I know better than to compare myself to others – So I’ll stop that right now!
In summary, The 50/50 Friendship Flow is a book that made me think about deepening relationships with my girlfriends, life lessons from others, and empowering ourselves.
I have the next two books in Shari Leid’s friendship series and will review them here on the blog as I read them. What are you reading?
Loved this review! I think 50 friendships is inspiring, to be honest. I really appreciated how you said you know better than to do comparison. I loved that! I need that reminder pretty much all the time <3 I'll check out that blog post, next.
I had to stop and check myself, saying mentally “don’t compare”! Thanks Ka for your thoughtful comment here xx