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Even Friends Who Are Bad Influences are Better than Not Having Friends
Connection matters more than small behaviors. Loneliness is more damaging to our mental and physical health than small vices, despite the amount of digital space spent talking about what we should and shouldn’t eat, drink, or do with our time. Yet, so many of us make our friendships one of the lowest priorities.
We’re hurting ourselves and each other.
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Shared Links (weekly) Nov. 19, 2023
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The case for inviting everyone to everything– In a time when loneliness is more pervasive than ever, why not extend an invitation?
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Bringing Hope and Suicide Prevention Resources to Veterans and Military Members
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Navigating the Depths: A Personal Journey into Black Men’s Mental Health and the Power of Therapy
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Feeling Lonely Should Inspire Us to Connect, But Often It Does the Opposite
For myself, and all of you, remember that feeling of loneliness is there for a reason, because we are meant to be connected to other people. Generally speaking, all those people we know and should connect with, also need the same thing. Many of them might even be struggling with their own internal negative thoughts too, and could use someone to reach out to them. If we all sit around convinced that no one wants to connect with us, eventually we’ll all be lonely, which seems like something we are headed toward. The solution is for each of us to take a step toward connection when we can.
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Asking for Help Can Create Connection – So Does the Thank You
We’ve talked a lot about the importance of connection when it comes to mental health. Being connected to others is a great tool in suicide prevention, and we see study after study reporting on the negative effects of loneliness. One great way to create a connection among your friends is to ask for help when you need it. People, generally, like to help. The little bit of vulnerability it takes to ask for help can create a huge improvement in the connection between two people.
Unless, of course, you don’t bother to acknowledge the help with a thank you.
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Men Have No One to Truly Open Up To According to Men
There are more details to describe what some men meant by no one, but no one was a very popular response. I’m not surprised by that. I think most men don’t open up 100% to anyone. Part of it is not having that kind of relationship with anyone, part of it is society’s expectations of men to be strong and stoic, part of it is women’s expectations that the men in their lives remain strong and stoic, and part of it is just our unwillingness to have uncomfortable conversations.
