This summer I embarked on the wonderful journey of watching Sex and the City for the first time. It only took my about one month to get through the six seasons and it was one magical experience. Innocent Charlotte, wild and sexy Samantha, dramatic-fashionista Carrie and boss babe Miranda taught me more lessons than I’ve learned in my four years of college. It would take a book to write them all so I picked 8 of my favorite life lessons from this wonderful show!
Sometimes you just have to forgive
Everyone makes mistakes, including the women and men on this show. Without forgiveness there would be no Carrie & Mr. Big, or Charlotte & Harry, or Miranda & Steve, OR Samantha & Smith. Literally just writing that sentence made me tear up, THE HORRORS! But you get my point, some things are bigger than anger… like friendships and love.
Be Yourself
One of my favorite things about this show is how authentic Miranda, Charlotte, Carrie and Miranda are. They are unapologetically themselves. Personally for me, my inspiration is Samantha. She reminds me so much of myself. She is so free and bold. I mean come on, how can you not admire how casually she mentioned her sexual adventures: in a restaurant, store, bar… you name it she did not care. Plus she is a successful business women, someone get me some water I’m feeling dizzy!
“I love you… but I love me more. I’ve been in a relationship with myself for 49 years and that’s the one I need to work on.” -Samantha Jones
It’s okay to have casual sex!
I know we’ve talked a lot about love and friendship, which is all wonderful stuff, but sometimes you just need some good, old causal sex. These is plenty of that in this show and guess what? It didn’t make Charlotte, Samantha or Carrie any less amazing. So do whoever, whenever you want to! If Charlotte can have some guilt free casual sex, you can too.
“I will not be judged by you or society. I will wear whatever and blow whomever I want as long as I can breathe – and kneel.” -Samantha Jones
It’s okay… and important… to just hang out by yourself.
Love is great and all, and gal pals make the world go round, but sometimes you need some good old fashion me time. I will never forget when Carrie got lunch by herself, no work, no distractions, just herself. I think we all get nervous by ourselves and can even become scared of being alone. However, in life sometimes the only person you have is yourself, and when that happens the last thing you want is to be uncomfortable. Go to the movie theatre alone, get lunch for one, it will be worth it in the end.
“The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself.” -Carrie Bradshaw
Love isn’t always fun or simple
I shed a lot of tears while watching this show. It most certainly wasn’t all rainbows and daisies. All of the characters experienced painful heartbreaks, arguments and bad relationships. People were cheated on, ghosted and let down. Carrie and Bigs relationship was 10 years of being emotionally dragged around in a potato sac. So yeah, bottom line is they aren’t always great and can sometimes be exhausting, but it does make for an interesting life.
Love is most definitely worth it, happily ever afters are possible.
Charlotte had the right attitude. That lady never ever gave up on the possibility of finding true love. While all of the women in this show had different opinions on the subject, they all found love in their own way. We could all use a little bit more of Charlotte’s over-optimism in our lives. You never know where life is going to take you. I still remember how full my heart felt when Big found Carrie in the hotel in Paris. Love finds a way, even in the weirdest of situations, and even if you have to convert to Judaism.
Sometimes you need new shoes.
I am sure we can all admit Carrie Bradshaw has a mild shoe addiction, but c’mon who doesn’t. And honestly, some days you just need a new, beautiful pair of heels to take the edge off. I don’t think I’ve ever related more to anything than the scene where Charlotte lets some weirdo sensually massage her foot for a pair of free shoes. Let’s be real, sometimes you can buy a lil’ happiness.
“The fact is, sometimes it’s really hard to walk in a single woman’s shoes. That’s why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.” -Carrie Bradshaw
Your friends ARE everything
There are a ton of men in this show… at least 20 and counting. There are ones we hate, ones we love. But all of them, yes even Steve & Smith, are nothing compared to the Sex and City gals. Their friendship is definitely my favorite of all of the TV shows I’ve ever seen. From Samantha offering to babysit Brady so Miranda could get a haircut to talking about anal during brunch, these women have been through it all with each other. Mr. Big said it best: “You girls are the loves of her life; a guy is lucky to come in fourth.”
“Maybe we can be each other’s soul mates. And then we can let men be just these great, nice guys to have fun with.” – Charlotte York