Shared Links (bi-weekly) Aug. 9, 2026
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As Whitney says, and I agree, the real work is in the complexities. That goes for our own mental health issues, healing from abuse, and social issues regarding these topics. We aren’t going to solve the mental health crisis by getting people to exercise more. It might help some people, but that one explanation will not work for everyone. We are all much more complex than that simple “fix” would lead us to believe, but believing it reduces the cognitive load of figuring out how to help millions of individuals.
It is true that there are people with plenty of social skills and social contacts who are still lonely. As a survivor, I recognize this in things like the small number of people we can talk to comfortably about our abuse, our healing, etc. At various times in my life, I’ve had a lot of friends and was very social. I was still lonely. Because no one saw all of me. No one sat with me in my pain. I kept it hidden from everyone. That’s lonely.
I love the idea that healing can be messy. Most truly human things worth doing are messy and chaotic. We weren’t made to only do easy things, but we are made to grow and heal.
The pity is that I prioritize this so little in my personal life. I’m constantly trying to “squeeze” in time with friends between work and other interests, and then wondering why my sense of personal community seems so lost. I think what Dr. Murthy talks about is part of it. I don’t think about time in this way. I’m always trying to maximize the time I spend with people, instead of just being with them.
The irony, of course, is how often I write about the best way to help people struggling with healing and mental health issues – just be with them. Yet, I don’t seem to realize how important it is to just be with our people regardless of what’s going on in their lives.
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