How are your relationships? Did you know that more than anything else in our lives it is our relationships that will dictate for each of us how happy we are in life? Yes, my friends… the people that we are connected to actually have more of an impact on our overall health that our genetics, choices in exercise or diet. So it goes without saying that we should choose our friends wisely even in old age!
Many of our friendships are actually tended to on social media. These friendships are interesting because we spend enormous amounts of time perusing our “friends” walls and often we like and share but are we really connecting? I don’t think so. Studies show that on average we spend up to 16 hours a day on social media…that’s an awful lot of time to not really be doing anything and having the false sense of connecting can be hazardous to our health! Dr. Oz calls the latest trend we face in stress “adult loneliness” instigated by the 60% of time spent on “ Drive By Friendships .” This simply isn’t healthy to choose Face Book over FaceTime.
Making the most of your relationships takes a little time and effort but it is well worth the rewards gained. Too often we do not stop and make that call each week to our brother or sister only to find time slipped into months and months into years and then something happens and they are gone. I always make a point to hug all of my friends so they know the last time they saw me we had that exchange. I try to call family weekly and touch base with my daughter everyday.
If our quality of life is attached so closely to our wellness then it would seem obvious for us to make sure we incorporate ways to nurture our relationships.
Earlier I mentioned my hugging my friends and this is one way that you too can make sure to touch literally those around you. Another way is to spend quality time with your loved ones. I like to set aside specific times so that my priorities of making my friendships first stays first. Often in my “list” column I give you ideas each month of things to do with the children and your spouse. You need to set aside afternoons to have a picnic or to watch a movie with those you love.
I’d say each of us could stand to clean up a little in our management of friendships. By eliminating wasted time viewing cyber friendships and fostering face time with those close to you that you love and cherish you’ll find yourself overall healthier. That’s something we should all subscribe to!
~ Alisa aka. Auntie A
