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These 'platonic life partners' are ready to spend the rest of their lives together

TikTok

April Lexi Lee and her PLP on TikTok

Most of us want to share our life with a partner who is our best friend. But what if that best friend isn't a romantic partner? Why should that stand in that way of having what most people long for? The truth is: Finding an enduring kind of love is special, and something worth investing in, even if it's not romantic love. And for April Lexi Lee (aka @psychottie on Tikok), it's the kind of love shared between her and her best friend of 11 years.

"This is for everyone who believes that their soulmate is their best friend," Lee said in her video urging viewers to "normalize platonic life partners."

@psychottie On some @cultclare & @jazmelodyy type shit. #platoniclifepartner ♬ original sound - April Lexi Lee

She continued: "My best friend is my soulmate. She's the platonic love of my life. She's who I choose to do life with. After 5 years of long distance, we finally manifested a way for her to move to LA [from Singapore] to be with me."

Lee posted another video of the two reuniting, and it feels like something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel. The two run into each other's arms for a long embrace, with the caption "what a long term, stable, healthy partnership can look like in 2021."

@psychottie Don’t mind me just romanticising my #platoniclifepartnership 🥰 @hotmilkwong #platoniclifepartner #bostonmarriage #tiktoksg🇸🇬#tiktoksg ♬ Home - Edith Whiskers

Lee noted that her friends and family called them both "crazy," to make such a big move, to which Lee responded, "we would not be questioned as much about this if we were lovers."

It's a valid point. We swoon over movies where the leading man makes it to the airport just in time to profess his forever feelings to a woman he's known for like three days, but somehow this 11-year relationship doesn't warrant such a gesture?

Lee argued that their friendship of more than a decade had lasted longer than most couples her age. And more importantly, they were committed to each other and shared a vision for the future. "We see a life together," she explained. "We wanna buy a house together, we wanna start a retirement fund together, we might even adopt a child together and raise it as friends."

Even though this dynamic is not seen as a traditional in our society, many have done it (and done it well). People were even inspired to share their own "PLP" success stories in the comments:

"I was raised by my mom and her best friend (mom #2). They love each other in a platonic way and do everything together."

"Me and my bestie are buying a house together this year. We have already lived together for 15 years."

"My boss did that with her friend. They even bought a house together. They're still going strong after 35 years. It can be done."

Not only does Lee normalize this relationship, she romanticizes it. Just look at the beautiful love book she created when their relationship status was still long distance. It's filled with cutesy cartoon images and funny heartfelt messages like:

"I can't wait for the day you finally come.
I'll share my space with you, and your many alarms.
To learn how to adult and how to survive.
To go on road trips with you.
I even look forward to you pushing my limits, because we know to be sick of each other is a privilege."

Seriously, find yourself a person who looks at you the way Lee does her bestie, platonic or otherwise.

@psychottie Reply to @psychottie we so cute and we out here 🤩 @hotmilkwong #platoniclifepartner #longdistancerelationship #ldr @LoveBook ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod

"My mind is blown right now. It just never occurred to me this was an option, and I love it and I want it!" wrote one person in the comments (um, yeah, same here!). This is why normalizing all kinds of healthy relationships is vital. We're better able to see what's possible.

The bottom line is: Romantic love is not king. As Lee put it, "If marriage is not for you and you want to start a life with your best friend, then do it!" What really matters is finding someone who excites and challenges you, who promotes a sense of health and safety, and who you're happy to "do life" with.

Excuse me while I go make a love book for my bestie.

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platonic life partners

Ocean Wise

Be Ocean Wise

Planet

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

Prudential

Meet the 18-year-old advocating for teen mental health, one inspiring podcast at a time

All images provided by Prudential Emerging Visionaries

Collins after being selected by Prudential Emerging Visionaries

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A changemaker is anyone who takes creative action to solve an ongoing problem—be it in one’s own community or throughout the world.

And when it comes to creating positive change, enthusiasm and a fresh perspective can hold just as much power as years of experience. That’s why, every year, Prudential Emerging Visionaries celebrates young people for their innovative solutions to financial and societal challenges in their communities.

This national program awards 25 young leaders (ages 14-18) up to $15,000 to devote to their passion projects. Additionally, winners receive a trip to Prudential’s headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, where they receive coaching, skills development, and networking opportunities with mentors to help take their innovative solutions to the next level.

For 18-year-old Sydnie Collins, one of the 2023 winners, this meant being able to take her podcast, “Perfect Timing,” to the next level.

Since 2020, the Maryland-based teen has provided a safe platform that promotes youth positivity by giving young people the space to celebrate their achievements and combat mental health stigmas. The idea came during the height of Covid-19, when Collins recalled social media “becoming a dark space flooded with news,” which greatly affected her own anxiety and depression.

Knowing that she couldn’t be the only one feeling this way, “Perfect Timing” seemed like a valuable way to give back to her community. Over the course of 109 episodes, Collins has interviewed a wide range of guests—from other young influencers to celebrities, from innovators to nonprofit leaders—all to remind Gen Z that “their dreams are tangible.”

That mission statement has since evolved beyond creating inspiring content and has expanded to hosting events and speaking publicly at summits and workshops. One of Collins’ favorite moments so far has been raising $7,000 to take 200 underserved girls to see “The Little Mermaid” on its opening weekend, to “let them know they are enough” and that there’s an “older sister” in their corner.

Of course, as with most new projects, funding for “Perfect Timing” has come entirely out of Collins’ pocket. Thankfully, the funding she earned from being selected as a Prudential Emerging Visionary is going toward upgraded recording equipment, the support of expert producers, and skill-building classes to help her become a better host and public speaker. She’ll even be able to lease an office space that allows for a live audience.

Plus, after meeting with the 24 other Prudential Emerging Visionaries and her Prudential employee coach, who is helping her develop specific action steps to connect with her target audience, Collins has more confidence in a “grander path” for her work.

“I learned that my network could extend to multiple spaces beyond my realm of podcasting and journalism when industry leaders are willing to share their expertise, time, and financial support,” she told Upworthy. “It only takes one person to change, and two people to expand that change.”

See on Instagram

Prudential Emerging Visionaries is currently seeking applicants for 2024. Winners may receive up to $15,000 in awards and an all-expenses-paid trip to Prudential’s headquarters with a parent or guardian, as well as ongoing coaching and skills development to grow their projects.

If you or someone you know between the ages of 14 -18 not only displays a bold vision for the future but is taking action to bring that vision to life, click here to learn more. Applications are due by Nov. 2, 2023.

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heroes

Pets

Family brings home the wrong dog from daycare until their cats saved the day

A quick trip to the vet confirmed the cats' and family's suspicions.

Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul|YouTube

Family accidentally brings wrong dog home but their cats knew

It's not a secret that nearly all golden retrievers are identical. Honestly, magic has to be involved for owners to know which one belongs to them when more than one golden retriever is around. Seriously, how do they all seem have the same face? It's like someone fell asleep on the copy machine when they were being created.

Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.

See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings.

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27-year-old who died of cancer left behind final advice that left the internet in tears

"Don't feel pressured to do what other people might think is a fulfilling life. You might want a mediocre life and that is so OK."

Photo courtesy of Remembering Holly Butcher/Facebook used with permission.

Holly Butcher left behind her best life advice before she passed away at 27.

The world said goodbye to Holly Butcher, a 27-year-old woman from Grafton, Australia.

Butcher had been battling Ewing's sarcoma, a rare bone cancer that predominantly affects young people. In a statement posted on Butcher's memorialized Facebook account, her brother, Dean, and partner, Luke, confirmed the heartbreaking news to friends.

"It is with great sadness that we announce Holly's passing in the early hours of this morning," they wrote on Jan. 4, 2018. "After enduring so much, it was finally time for her to say goodbye to us all. The end was short and peaceful; she looked serene when we kissed her forehead and said our final farewells. As you would expect, Holly prepared a short message for you all, which will be posted above."

Butcher's message, which Dean and Luke did, in fact, post publicly shortly thereafter, has brought the internet to tears.

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These 'platonic life partners' are ready to spend the rest of their lives together

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Artists got fed up with these 'anti-homeless spikes.' So they made them a bit more ... comfy.

"Our moral compass is skewed if we think things like this are acceptable."

These are called "anti-homeless spikes." They're about as friendly as they sound.

The spikes are a prime example of how cities design spaces to keep homeless people away.

One particular set of spikes was outside a former night club in London. And a local group got sick of staring at them.

These spikes may be in London, but the U.S. definitely has its fair share of anti-homeless sentiment, too.

Thankfully, groups like "Space, Not Spikes" are out there changing hearts and minds. But they need our help.

Check out their video below:

Meet the 18-year-old advocating for teen mental health, one inspiring podcast at a time

Dad challenges his Gen Z daughter to figure out 3 things about a U-haul truck

The look on her face when she sees the manual window.

Family brings home the wrong dog from daycare until their cats saved the day

A quick trip to the vet confirmed the cats' and family's suspicions.

A 10-panel comic explores a subtle kind of racism many people of color experience.

Not all questions are harmless.

If we're being honest, we all make assumptions about other people, right?

The fact is, though, that people of color deal with other people's assumptions constantly.

Let's agree to fix this.

27-year-old who died of cancer left behind final advice that left the internet in tears

"Don't feel pressured to do what other people might think is a fulfilling life. You might want a mediocre life and that is so OK."

Woman uses photo of her dog to perfectly shut down the myth that rape is a woman's fault

"If a 4-year-old pit bull understands…"

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Drones fired ‘seed missiles’ into the dirt. A year later, the trees are already 20 inches tall.

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