… you listen.

I recently started watching Friends reruns on Netflix.

Way back when, when the popular 90s sitcom was a Monday night TV show, which aired at 7:30PM on channel 10 (I grew up in Australia), it clashed with our piano lessons, and I was only able to watch the first 5-10 minutes before being wrenched away to play the piano.

And I absolutely love it. Friends, that is. Not really the piano. 

Sadly, the piano lessons got us nowhere – sorry, mum! So, really, watching ‘Friends’ would have been much more productive and a more economically-sound decision … right? Although, what a cool party trick that would be: Like, I’m just here casually playing Rachmaninoff.

Actually, it was J who got me onto watching Friends on the streaming service.

It’s “our thing” … along with Brooklyn 99.

Andy Samberg (Detective Jake in ‘Brooklyn 99’) is hilarious. Also, did you know that Melissa Fumero (from ‘Brooklyn 99’, who plays ‘Amy Santiago’) stars in the recently added ‘Blockbuster’ series on Netflix? I started watching that this week … but I really can’t go passed Melissa in ‘Brooklyn 99’, so … so far, ‘Blockbuster’ has been a little ‘meh!’ for me.

Anyhoo … Back to Friends …!

It’s refreshing watching a series in which the characters aren’t glued to their iPhones or constantly posting to their social media accounts (looking at you: Dubai Bling). And instead are living life, drinking giant mugs of coffee on ‘that’ Central Perk couch.

I love it!

And, of course, ‘Rachel’ (played by Jennifer Aniston) is hilarious.

Speaking of Jennifer Aniston, when her interview with Allure magazine came out recently I knew I had to read it immediately.

Written by Danielle Pergament, the piece reveals some unexpected truths about Jen.

End of an area: According to Jen’s post on Instagram in which she promoted the interview, this is Allure’s “very last print issue”. More magazines are RIP-ing. These are sad times. *welp* And can we all take a moment to appreciate how HOT Jen looks in the magazine shoot.

Surprisingly, speaking of Instagram, Jen tells Allure she hates social media.

She’s “not good at it”, she says and that it’s “torture” for her.

“I went on Instagram […] to launch this line,” she tells Allure. “Then the pandemic hit, and we didn’t launch. So, I was just stuck with being on Instagram. It doesn’t come naturally.”

I hear you, girl!

Jen goes on to share some difficult times she experienced in her late 30s and 40s.

“I was trying to get pregnant,” she tells Allure. “It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road.”

…

She continues:

“All the years and years and years of speculation […] It was really hard. I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it,” she says.

“I was throwing everything at it.

“I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favour.’ You just don’t think it.

“So, here I am today. The ship has sailed.”

Wow.

Just. Wow.

As someone in her late-30s (on the cusp of 40), this hits close to home.

Being a woman can be an emotional rollercoaster.

It can be tough at times.

My mum, bless her, has started suggesting a Chinese herbalist and drinking fertility tea. Good thing I like herbal tea.

But the journey continues.

Continuing her story, Jen tells Allure: “I’ve spent so many years protecting my story about IVF.

“I’m so protective of these parts because I feel like there’s so little that I get to keep to myself.

“The [world] creates narratives that aren’t true, so I might as well tell the truth […] I don’t have anything to hide.”

It can be tough being a woman.

As women, we don’t have unlimited time during which we can have everything we’ve ever wanted.

And for those of us who didn’t get married and/or start a family by 35, it’s often assumed that we’re too hyper-focused on our careers or that we’re selfish or something …!

Whatever that BS narrative is.

But that’s not necessarily true.

Maybe we’ve previously been stuck in shitty relationships, and it’s taken a little bit to find Mr Right.

Maybe it’s taking the oven a little bit to get warmed up.

Regardless, we’re all on our individual journeys. And there’s nothing we need to hide or be ashamed of.

As Jen wrote in her 2016 op-ed for Huffington Post:  “The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing.”

Let’s stop assuming.

Let’s stop the well-meaning pity.

Let women just be.

In our own time. In our own way. On our own journey.

x G.

Feature image: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com