Ginny and Georgia- Find Your Real Friends

Never look backwards, only forward. It don’t do any good digging through mud. All you get is dirty. Best wash yourself lean and move on – Georgia

Netflix’s new show Ginny and Georgia is something to watch. I won’t spoil anything for anyone that hasn’t watched it yet, but here’s the gist of it.

Georgia, a single mother of a 15-year-old teenage daughter, Ginny, and an 8-year-old boy, Austin, moves into a white suburban area in Massachusetts. Moving into a new neighborhood, Ginny craves a normal high school life and Georgia is looking for stability. Love, family, scandal, and betrayal put a wedge between Ginny and Georgia. 

After watching season one, I give this series a 7/10. The writers address some issues, but most of those only hit the surface. They talked about racial profiling, being biracial, sexism, self-harm, sexuality, and much more. But for season two (yes they just renewed for season 2), I want the writers to dive more into these issues. I want to learn more about Ginny and why she self-harms, Austin’s aggression, and overall better character arcs.

Each character has a place in my heart, especially Georgia. But the character that stands out to me the most was Abby. Now I didn’t like Abby since the beginning. Her jealousy with Ginny and the need to control things just didn’t sit well with me. But as we got to know Abby, her home life, and her overall downward spiral, I started to understand her. I probably connected to her more because I was her in high school.

High school is a dangerous place. You try to fit in with people and have a steady friend group, but even within that friend group you still have insecurities. I was dealing with a lot during high school, internally, and I felt as though my friends didn’t care. Very similar to Abby, she was going through a lot of family issues, and every time Abby tried to talk to her friends, Ginny or someone else interrupts her. 

That happened to me all the time, even now as a 23-year-old in graduate school. At a point, I’ve learned to deal with it. In high school, I stuck with it because I didn’t have a backbone at the time. In college, I stopped talking/hanging out with people who would interrupt me, be on their phones when I talk, or make me feel like shit for talking about my problems. I found friends who made me feel like my feelings are validated. And if that means that your friend group gets smaller, then let it. I would rather have 5 dependable friends than 100 friends that don’t give me the time of day.

Here is my advice, if you are currently an Abby, find friends who will listen to you the way that you listen to other people. Your problems are not a burden to people, so stop thinking like that. Start speaking up more. Because the more that bottle everything in, the more you feel like you want to explode, or seek other harmful methods to relieve your pain. And we don’t want that. Always know that you can count on at least one person in your life who will be there in your time of need when you are at rock bottom. 

Know who your friends are. You get to pick them.

Until next time

– Nadine Bourne