My daughter, my mom, my sister, and me

Your whole you, part 6 of 7 – relationship with others

Apr 17, 2020

Why am I doing this series again? To support you. I want to encourage you to live your best life – making more choices every day that support you rather than bring you down. I’d love for you to make more educated decisions about your choices in life. And, I’d like to be your cheerleader around tuning in to your body and learning more about what it needs as an individual. Want someone to hold your hand? I’m your hand holder. I think it’s important for you to have someone to lean on/ a resource in your life process as much as you need.

Sure, supplements can provide added support, but it is the choices that you make day in and day out in life that make you resilient and strong. When you attend to these foundational lifestyle factors, your body is more likely to feel stronger, healthier and ready to overcome whatever it may need to!

Are you tending to all aspects of you and your environment? You are a mental/emotional/spiritual being in a physical body; take some time to reflect on all aspects of you.

When you attend to these foundational lifestyle factors, your body is more likely to feel stronger, healthier and ready to overcome whatever it may need to!

  1. Nourishment, hydration
  2. Movement
  3. Sleep
  4. Clean living (your environment)
  5. Relationship with yourself
  6. Relationship with others
  7. Relationship with something

Relationship with others

We humans by nature are social creatures. Even those of you who identify closer to the introvert side of the scale still biologically need social connections. We need both close and peripheral relationships – close relationships are those that are strong with those other people we feel most deeply connected to. But that’s not all there is – we need weak ties to acquaintances, as well. This is your biology. We are wired for connection and the function of our nervous system and all that it interacts with (think everything – heart, lungs, mood, immune system, sleep…) rely on this interpersonal connection.

Studies show that social relationships have short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse, and that these effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster cumulative advantage or disadvantage in health.”

 

Try this…

 

Don’t take my word for it. Test this out… Take a moment right now to check in to see how you feel: how tense you are, your energy level, your ability to think clearly. Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most tense/ distressed). Then, reach out to a loved one to chat for a bit. Reassess how you’re feeling after the conversation. Feel better? Healthier? Play some more to learn how much who you talk to affects your experience, before and after.

 

For the next few days,

Connect with others…

 

Who matters in your life? Family? Friends? Your beloved pet(s)? A trusted community (chorus, bike group, church)?

Reach out in the ‘old’ ways – pick up the phone, visit in person (6’ apart, for now),

schedule a picnic or take a walk to connect.