Social Connections are enjoyable, but did you know they also contribute to your happiness?
We Crave Connections With Other People
We are created as social creatures who need and crave human connections. It is hardwired into our brains because we need to work together to ensure the survival of our species. It only makes sense then that forming and maintaining those connections has an internal reward system. Conversely, when we spend too much time alone and isolated we start to feel sad, and possibly a little depressed.
Barbra Streisand says it all with her song ‘People’ ~ people who need people are the luckiest people in the world. It is our interaction with other people more than anything else that can bring us happiness. It isn’t the amount of money we make or have stashed away in a bank account. It isn’t the big house, the fancy car, and all the ‘things’ we accumulate over the years. What makes us happy is spending time and sharing experiences with other people.
This is not to say that every person will contribute to your happiness. We all have to deal with plenty of people we don’t particularly enjoy spending time with. We do it because they are our neighbors, or because they happen to work out next to us at the gym, or if you are still working, cooperating on a project at the office. Some people we are ambivalent about, others we’d rather not spend time with given the choice. Some you enjoy the relationship for awhile and then something happens to sour it. Remember that people come into your life “for a reason or a season.” There will be a benefit to each of the relationships. The idea is to learn and grow from each one of them that you have.
Social Connections are important
When we are with people we love and whose company we enjoy, we get a lot of joy, satisfaction, and happiness out of those interactions. We have evolved into beings who crave the mental, social, and physical connections. There is nothing better than a heart felt bear hug.
Spending time with people who love and encourage us, and those that challenge us, and make us push harder, helps us grow as human beings. We get better when we have mentors and those that cheer us on around us. There’s a reason people say that you are or will become the average of the five people you spent the most time around. Pick those around you wisely if you want to grow as a person and if your goal is happiness, spend as much time as you can with happy, positive people.
Above all, make sure you nurture those important close relationships with family and friends. Those connections will help boost your happiness and make you feel like you’re part of something bigger that gives meaning to your life.
I’d also like to encourage you to think about how you can increase your social connections – starting a different club ie. book club, dinner and a movie nite, dinner swap clubs, … can be a place to start.
You’ll also want to grab our Happiness Planner to help you on your Happiness Journey!
