Something delicious is coming, and at a photoshoot over the weekend to capture some content in celebration of this new Partner and offering for We are The Helpful, we asked a series of simple questions about friendship. And the answers really struck a chord.

Because not one person said their most powerful memory of friendship was the holiday, the wedding, the big birthday party. Every single story circled back to the small stuff. The details. The moments in between.

And it struck me because it mirrored exactly what I’ve been feeling myself.  Since having a new baby without my Mum here, of course I’ve missed her for the big things. But what I’ve really grieved are the tiny details - the questions only she would think to ask, the little observations she’d make, the quiet reassurance that I’m doing a good job when no one else would notice. Those invisible stitches are actually what holds us together.

Where Our Closest Relationships Really Exist

Because it’s in those moments that our closest relationships live. Not just the milestones, but the mundane. The quiet, silent heartbreaks. The overwhelm and the messy middle. It’s the hours of grit and effort that lead to the shiny celebration, or the tear-stained nights before and after the funeral.

It’s the periods of vomit-covered clothes and unwashed hair, the sleepless nights, the worry-filled moments of self-doubt. It’s the slammed doors and late-night pick-ups with teenagers, when it feels like your heart is living outside your body and you’re holding your breath and your patience. 

It’s the peri-fuelled brain fog, the 3am wake-ups, the wondering if you’ll ever feel like yourself again. It’s the school drop-offs or pick-ups when your child saves their hardest behaviours just for you, and you’re left holding it all together on top of everything else the day demands.

It’s unpacking boxes and filling fridges. It’s hours of rambling voice notes, back and forth, when life feels too big to carry alone.  It’s a cup of tea. Much needed coffee on the doorstep. A glass of wine (or four).

That’s the threshold, isn’t it? The line that separates our wider circle from our inner circle. They’re the ones who hold us in the grit, not just the glory. The ones who see us not only at the milestones, but in all the moments that actually make up a life.

And we can’t navigate the details alone. Because the sum of them - the heartbreak, the laughter, the exhaustion, the nothing-special Tuesday afternoons - is what builds a life.

Why This Matters

I’m building We are The Helpful to honour that.  

To make gifting reflect the relationships that matter most. To make it easier to show up not just with something pretty, but with something that truly helps. Something that truly sees.

Because when life happens, it’s rarely the bouquet that gets remembered. It’s the food that kept us going. The childcare that gave us a break. The robe that wrapped around us when we couldn’t get out of bed.

That’s what your inner circle needs. That’s what leaves a mark.

And this isn’t just gut instinct - it’s backed by research. The latest findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development (2023) show that the quality of our closest relationships is the strongest predictor of health and happiness across a lifetime. Closer than wealth, genetics, or career success1. The UK Office for National Statistics has also reported that people with strong relationships have higher life satisfaction and better physical health outcomes2. And loneliness? It’s been linked to the same health risks as smoking 15 cigarettes a day3.

We don’t just want our inner circle. We need them. And when we show up for each other in the little moments, we’re not just supporting each other through life, we’re protecting each other’s health, too.

Gifts That Honour the Details

That’s why We are The Helpful exists. A platform that doesn’t just do milestones, but the messy middle. That makes it possible to gift food, care, time, rest, rituals - the things that matter most when the details are overwhelming. When life gets real.  

Because our closest people don’t just deserve flowers on the good days. They deserve support in the everyday, in the heartbreak, in the quiet but defining details. And when we gift that, we give the most powerful reminder of all: you’re not doing this alone.

Shop our She Needs Edit today 

We didn’t make this up - the research really does back it:

1. Robert Waldinger & Marc Schulz, The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness (Simon & Schuster, 2023).
2. Office for National Statistics, Measuring National Well-being: International Comparisons (2019).
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community (2023).