life skills
meangirls
by Cortlin Chavis
Mean girls in movies and TV shows are often glamorized , as if they ’ re a trophy to boys and an idol to girls . But they ’ re really just girls who are concerned more with their own happiness than anyone else ’ s . Whether in elementary school , high school , college , work , it ’ s all the same . It ’ s easy to judge a person too fast , but it might be more constructive to learn how to recognize and handle the mean girls in your life !
Here are a few typical signs of a mean girl :
Once you know a girl is a mean girl , the good news is dealing with her can be pretty simple .
But are you a mean girl ?
1 ) Being two-faced
She ’ ll say whatever won ’ t get her into an argument , and whatever will make her likable in the moment even if she was just saying the opposite to someone else five minutes ago . Bonus points if it ’ s a straight up lie .
2 ) Gossiping
Gossiping about her “ best friend ” in the whole wide world . As soon as said bff walks away . Every time . Bonus points if it ’ s out of jealousy to keep the bff from becoming more popular .
3 ) Excluding
She decides who ’ s worthy to be around her , and if you didn ’ t make the cut , try again next year . Bonus points if she only likes you when certain people are around .
People figured out a long time ago that making everyone happy is a unrealistic . Taking other ’ s feelings into consideration and knowing their worth as well as your own , however , are very attainable and worthy goals .
1 ) Don ’ t depend on her . You can be her acquaintance , her classmate , her teammate , her coworker , even her friend . You can show her kindness . But you can ’ t lean on her . I ’ ve heard a lot of people say sometimes their friends can be mean , but if something really happened , their friends would be there for them . This is definitely not the case with mean girls . If it ’ s not convenient for them , they ’ re out .
2 ) Don ’ t seek her out . The last thing you want is for people to associate you with the mean girl persona ! You could lose the respect of some potential friends by kissing up to a mean girl who you already know you can ’ t depend on .
3 ) Do carry on without her blessing . I ’ m not saying you should go against everything she says just to “ be different ”, nor should her feelings not count for anything , but your purpose in life isn ’ t to impress her .
Mean girls don ’ t make such goals . They ’ re much more focused on being , you know , mean .
One of the biggest things to watch out for is excluding people . It ’ s hard to balance having a good close group of friends and not making other people feel left out , but it might be unrealistic to invite everyone to everything . Here are some guidelines to consider :
Things it ’ s okay to do : Spend time with people you want to grow closer to , invest in them often , only invite a few people when your mom says no more than three , only drive five people when your car sits no more than five
Things it ’ s not okay to do : Talk only to your few best friends when out at social events where you know other people , ignore someone who ’ s not your friend when they ask to hang out ( if you really don ’ t want to , at least reply and say something like “ thanks for asking , but I can ’ t .”), refuse to sit with other people ( especially if it ’ s your whole friend group refusing to sit with others ). www . potentialmagazine . com Spring 2018
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