Who are your peeps?

By Dana

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of community and connection recently. 

A couple of weeks ago I went to my friend Allison Gilbert’s talk about The Joy of Connections, a book she co-wrote with the amazing Dr. Ruth Westheimer. If you’re feeling a bit lonely or simply craving more connection in your life I recommend you check it out.

Why?

Because we humans NEED connection and we NEED to feel understood. 

In fact, having close connection is foundational to both your happiness and wellbeing. You don’t need to have a lot of people in your life but you do need a few that truly know you and understand you, with all of your lumps and bumps and imperfections. 

Sadly, in our hyper-connected world, 30% of adults share they feel lonely. In fact, you can be in a relationship and/or be surrounded by people and still feel lonely.

Community and connection are really important to me. So much so that my boys hate grocery shopping with me because, in their words “It takes forever!” as I always run into someone I’m happy to see and would like to catch up with. I enjoy lots of time with family and close friends and yet… in one area of my life I’ve been feeling quite lonely. 

My health journey. 

I’ve been struggling with a couple of chronic health challenges that seem to baffle the medical establishment. I want an answer (and a solution!) and after spending a few years seeing a crazy number of medical specialists and taking countless tests I’ve come up empty, with no diagnosis and no solution in sight. 

My family and closest friends have been loving and supportive but it’s lonely to navigate this challenge and to not feel understood. This is compounded because I don’t want to talk about it a lot and I certainly don’t want it to be central in our relationships! 

So last night I ventured into NYC to attend the Chronicon Tour, my first real effort toward creating a community of support for my chronic illness. What a treat it was to connect with people on a challenge that has become central to my life. And I hit it off with a couple of gals and we’ll be meeting and supporting each other on an ongoing basis.

Somehow this challenge feels less overwhelming to navigate already. Feeling understood is so very important.

In what area of your life could you benefit from the support of people with similar experiences?

Where can you meet them?

Perhaps you already know them and you’d benefit by reaching out, sharing your truth and bringing them together.

And of course creating community isn’t just about support. What would you like to invite more of in your life? And who would you like to enjoy it with?

Reach out. Someone would love to hear from you. 

We’re all in this together.

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Yesterday I participated in an incredibly inspiring panel discussion about the importance of community. You can listen to it here.