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So your bestie’s gone from crushing to full-on relationship and you’re, um, still single as ever. But the two of you talk about everything…and her new romance shouldn’t be any different, right?!<\/p>\n
Well, the truth is that it’s complicated.<\/p>\n
Maybe you’re eager to give your girls crush advice but worry that your lack of experience doesn’t give you the best POV. Or maybe you’re getting a little tired of your friends going on about their couples’ conundrums when you just can’t relate. Worst of all, maybe you’ve shared your musings on their meet-cutes\u2014only to be met with *that* disbelieving stare and the “Oh, well, I guess you wouldn’t really know.” Ouch.<\/p>\n
When you and your friends are out of step when it comes to your love lives, it can create a disconnect that’s awkward and, tbh, a little scary. But have no fear: Your BFF dynamic can survive this change, your single self can give amazing advice and you can help your squad without losing yourself in seventh-wheel status. Here’s how\u2026<\/p>\n
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You might be used to having everything in common with your friends\u2014school, interests and even your style sense. But the hard truth is that, as you get older, you and your friends might start to be a little out of sync<\/a>…especially when it comes to your romance status.<\/p>\n It’s perfectly normal to be crushing from afar while your BFF has fallen into full S.O. status. And\u00a0it’s *also* perfectly normal to feel a little awkward about the whole sitch. “When my best friend started dating her crush, I was so excited for her…but also felt a little jealous because my crush barely even texted me back,” admits Lilah K., 16. “I wanted her to be happy, but I wanted to feel that same happiness along with her.”<\/p>\n Truth be told, your bestie probably feels a little awkward, too. “I didn’t know if I should talk about my relationship with my camp friend since she always complained about being single,” remembers Riley B., 15. “I didn’t want her to feel left out or uncomfortable.”<\/p>\n But it’s worth putting in the extra effort to engage your friends when it comes to their baes. After all, no matter what happens with their crushes (or yours), or what awkwardness ensues along the way, that kind of steadfast bestie support is so special.<\/p>\n Honestly ask yourself: Are you rooting for your friend and their S.O. to stay together\u2026or to break up? Why?<\/p>\n Being real with your own perspective will help you give good advice. Maybe you genuinely like your friend’s bae…but you secretly wish they could break up and your BFF bond could go back to how it was before. (And that’s normal!) Or maybe you’re hoping the couple lasts forever…as long as your <\/em>crush likes you back, too. (Double date time!)<\/p>\n But of course you don’t want your bestie to struggle because of *your* judgment\u00a0or even envious feelings. Sometimes, instead of not liking your friend’s S.O., you just wish you didn’t have to share her with her S.O. now.<\/p>\n So your bestie is asking you how to handle meeting her S.O.’s fam…or what to get her S.O.\u00a0for their three-month anniversary…or what to reply during a heated text exchange.<\/p>\n You freeze up instantly.\u00a0I think I have a good point\u2014but am I allowed to give advice when I’ve never been through this before?<\/em><\/p>\n Answer: Yes. Sure, maybe you’ve never had a go-to homecoming date, but having crushes (yes, fictional ones can count) or situationships is enough to earn\u00a0you a valuable perspective in an advice-giving sesh.\u00a0Those kinds of experiences teach you some standout S.O. qualities\u00a0(but also maybe some big red S.O. stop signs) that you can remind your friend to\u00a0pay\u00a0attention to.<\/p>\n Support can be\u00a0more than spoken advice\u2013 it\u00a0can also be action. When it comes to that\u00a0anniversary gift, offer to shop online with her, scan TikTok for cute inspo or even low-key find\u00a0out her S.O.’s niche interests. (And, FYI,\u00a0it’s perfectly OK to say “I don’t know…but I support you!”)<\/p>\n Also, see your single status as a good thing<\/a> and not an obstacle. Being outside of the situation (and not having your own romance to focus on, tbh) gives you a helpful viewpoint.<\/p>\n Just make sure that your friends are checking in on you, too\u2014and the squad doesn’t become a “couples only” zone. “When my three closest friends were all dating people and I was single, we made a rule that we weren’t going to talk about relationships at the lunch table,” says Katelynn L., 17. “That way we could focus on all the other amazing, fun, challenging things going on in our lives, everyone felt included *and* it created a safe single space when some of them ended up going through breakups.”<\/p>\n Bottom line: You can *totally* be a good friend exactly where you’re at with your romantic experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n Say you don’t have direct experiences from your own<\/em> life to inform your advice, and your friend asked you for some help that’s just… not in your area of expertise at all. You’re having an “I *just* don’t know” moment. When you’ve run out of things\u00a0to draw\u00a0from\u00a0looking inward, it’s\u00a0time to look outward. Spoiler alert: You’ll have to be a little more creative.<\/p>\n Ever read a romance book? Watched a rom-com?\u00a0Then you probably know\u00a0something\u00a0<\/em>about relationships.<\/p>\n Maybe you listened to “Daylight” by Taylor Swift and you realized it’s worthwhile to sometimes look for love\u00a0in simplicity or\u00a0peace instead of grand romantic gestures (meaning you kinda sobbed when\u00a0Taylor said that love is “golden” instead of “burning red”).\u00a0Or maybe you watched\u00a0The Summer I Turned Pretty,\u00a0<\/em>and it taught you that\u00a0different people look for different things when it comes to\u00a0relationships<\/a>. Some girls look for unmistakable connection like Belly and Conrad, and some look for\u00a0playful partnership like Steven and\u00a0Taylor.<\/p>\n “My best friend had just started dating her BF\u00a0and feeling kind of insecure because a lot of girls at our school liked him,” says Chelsey\u00a0W., 15. “I hadn’t been through that before…but it reminded me so much of an episode of\u00a0Never Have I Ever\u00a0<\/em>that I *had* to recommend it to her.”<\/p>\n If you just feel too weird about drawing your advice from things that feel *that* impersonal (DW, we get it), you can still look outward, just not so<\/em> far outside your personal life.\u00a0You see so many other people in relationships (like friends and family) that have\u00a0taught you lessons about love, too.<\/p>\n You know your besties better than anyone. So when her S.O. tells her she should quit band? Yeah, you can give your two cents on how that’s not a good call.<\/p>\n I mean, look me in the eye and tell me that you haven’t given your friend advice on what dress she should wear to a school dance\u2014I’d bet you can’t. That required that you know specific details about her like her favorite color and sense of\u00a0style. Maybe you knew that she has an outgoing personality and needed\u00a0a comfy dress for dancing all night.<\/p>\n You might think that giving advice\u00a0on a dress for a dance isn’t at all the same thing as giving advice on a relationship, and yeah, that\u00a0is\u00a0def more consequential. But the point is that you can base your advice off of what you know about your friend as a person, instead of off your dating experience (or lack thereof).<\/p>\n See? You are *so* much more qualified for this than you thought.<\/p>\n If you loved these tips, check out @girlslifemag<\/a> on Instagram!\u00a0<\/span><\/big><\/strong><\/p>\n Want to send your friend some crush advice? Check these out:<\/b><\/span> Images: @thesummeriturnedpretty<\/a>, @meredithgood<\/a>, <\/small>@mel.amartinez, <\/a>@nataliezacek<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So your bestie’s gone from crushing to full-on relationship and you’re, um, still single as ever. But the two of you talk about everything…and her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1664,"featured_media":319100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[286,1153,283],"tags":[48,6871,21683,150,14298,7541,425,2697,22266,56373,9257,18195],"class_list":["post-279053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crushes","category-friends","category-life","tag-advice","tag-crush-advice","tag-crush-tips","tag-crushes","tag-dating-tips","tag-friend-advice","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-friendship-tips","tag-pop-culture-dating-advice","tag-relationship-advice","tag-single-friends"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Consider the other POV<\/span><\/h2>\n
Validate where you are in your (happy! single!) life<\/span><\/big><\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/happysinglelife.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGet creative with your advice<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/content\/tsitpcoupleaesthetic.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAnd don’t forget…<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n\ud83d\udc9d Alphabet date ideas you need to try<\/a>
\n\ud83d\udc9d 13 texts to send to spark your ~romance~ era<\/a>
\n\ud83d\udc9d 4 relationship red flags they might not be the one<\/a><\/p>\n