Hey guys, riddle me this; how does Taylor Swift do it?
As you well know by now, Taylor is the Super Best Friend; the friend that all other friends should aim to be like. Her gang of girl pals reaches far and wide, includes famous and non-famous people, humans and animals and is one of the most well-maintained social circles the world has ever seen. She's the sort of friend you could only hope and dream for. And, as an introvert, it makes me break out in a cold sweat.
See, conversely to how Taylor appears to the world, spending a lot of time with other people isn't something that comes naturally to me. Sitting in my room watching Netflix for a whole Saturday? That's not me moping, that's just my idea of a good time. And, while I do absolutely have a great group of friends who I see regularly, I've always been fascinated to watch them pop over to each others' houses for tea unannounced, text each other 24/7, have impromptu sleepovers and spend all day and all evening with each other. I'm usually left wondering in my incredulous head; 'When do they ever get to have any time to themselves?'
Now, my biggest friendship fears are being lived out on the front pages. With Taylor making the BFF Girl Gang even more of A. Thing. than ever before with her friend-heavy 1989 World Tour and the now infamous Bad Blood video, I'm starting to feel like I'm never going to be the kind of friend that I need to be.
Here's what freaks me out.
Taylor never forgets an important event
Like, the other day for instance, she put up a picture of Zendaya graduating from university. Maybe she was there, maybe she wasn't, but either way she made sure to mark the event on her Instagram. I, on the other hand am heavily reliant on Facebook lurking to find out what's going on in a lot of my friends' lives since the concept of picking up the phone and asking them? Terrifying. Thank God for Facebook's birthday reminders and the invention of text messaging... Amiright fellow introverts?
She doesn't put her boyfriend first
And her and Calvin are pretty damn new at the whole couple thing; that's the bit of your relationship where you're ALLOWED to be so into each other that you can't fathom the thought of seeing anyone else. But nope, other best mate Ed Sheeran's hanging out right alongside them. Which is nice. Hell, if I get the opportunity to hide away from being social with a night of films, food and boyfriending? I am all over that like a damn rash. Ed Sheeran or no Ed Sheeran.
She'll always fit you in
You'd think being in the middle of a big giant huge tour that's bigger than any event that's ever happened in music ever, would be a pretty damn good excuse to avoid organising a big old party for a friend who's having a baby; surely there's like someone else who can handle that, what with all the hundreds of thousands of fans depending on you? But nope, Taylor managed this weekend to throw her pregnant pal Jamie King a baby shower (complete with photo booth and celebrity guest list) and she's just about to jet off to Germany to complete the next leg of the aforementioned tour. This makes my excuse for not going to the cinema with my friend that went something along the lines of, 'I've got no money, oops we just got paid, I mean I don't feel well' look just a little pathetic. Nice one, Jess.
She goes out of her way to help you out
It's not like Taylor *has *to do anything to help promote lesser-known stars but she does and she's really damn nice about it. Take 21-year-old country singer Kelsea Ballerini, for instance. Back in March, Taylor Tweeted how much she was listening to her album and Kelsea's sales spiked. Then, last week in Pittsburgh, Kelsea found herself backstage with Taylor and a few other artists taking part in a Blink 182 jam. Obvs the whole thing went on Instagram. Four separate times. Which was lovely. Obviously my measley social following isn't going to make anyone famous but bigging up fellow friends' work is a tough one – will people really trust my opinion? Ha. Never. Right? Right.
She's just got so damn many friends
Like from Lena Dunham to Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss to Cara Delevingne, Taylor's got BFFs coming out of her ears. That's a lot of people that she's opened up to and ushered on into her personal fold. Which seems like a very scary thing. More than one person that you feel completely and totally comfortable with for any length of time? Mindblowing. Teach us your ways, Taylor.
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
Science Says Rats Love Their Friends More Than Food. Do You?
How To Make Friends When You're Socially Awkward And Everyone Seems To Have Mates Except You
Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.