In this depressing and disturbing time in which we live, a happiness injection is required. Our mom had a great phrase she employed about “always having something to look forward to.” She used that to stay active and engaged.
Looking forward to an event or activity is about finding a form of pure joy. Something that motivates you, gets your mind firing down neural pathways that excite and energize you – a happiness injection, if you will.
Something we have heavily lost these past three pandemic months is personal connections. Many of us are still working. Others have lost their jobs or gone remote. Regardless of your work situation, those friendships and family relationships where you laugh, tell stories, joke around, listen to the people you care most deeply about has fallen away. We aren’t -- for the most part anyway -- seeing friends face-to-face to catch up on the good times.
We can talk on the phone, text, email, Snapchat or Tik Tok away, but it’s not the same. Full human interaction requires seeing body language, a give and take, visual cues, listening to tone of voice and active listening. All those are best done in-person.
This need came up recently as an issue when our younger daughter got off a Zoom call with a group of friends. She came in afterwards and said, “I can’t believe how much I miss my close friends.” I get it.
She’s working locally and living with us while she waits for her first full-time job to start, so she has left college, is isolated from those she’s grown closest to, and doesn’t have the same outlets for fun she had a little over a month ago. When she got on that Zoom call, the pure pleasure of talking with those you know well and have great friendship relationships with where you can be totally YOU became overwhelming apparent to her. “I miss them so much,” she said.
We all miss those people in our lives. More so right now. Probably because we need them in our lives now more than ever.
I’ve been fortunate to have two happiness injections the past two weekends, one when our son came home for Father’s Day and we were able to play some golf, hang out and just catch up on life. Another was a wonderful friend for almost 40 years, Carl. He will hate me for writing this because he is a private person, but it must be said.
He’s a happiness injection in my life. He is a voice of sanity in a world gone nuts. He makes me laugh. He is one of the best storytellers on the planet. He grabs your full attention, easily laughs at himself and some of the goofy things he’s done over the years. How can you not be happy when you know you’re going to be able to see each other and catch up on your respective lives.
Our meetings never disappoint. They aren’t what I project beforehand either since expectations that our imagination envisions never connect with reality. The world is always different than what we fantasize.
But I do receive an injection of friendship happiness. Repeatedly over the years. And I can’t thank him enough for all those times, the total blast to explore our so-very-different worlds yet still connect, share, console and look FORWARD to the future because there’s still wilderness to explore.
Here’s to you, Carl. Keep injecting the happiness.
In this depressing and disturbing time in which we live, a happiness injection is required. Our mom had a great phrase she employed about “always having something to look forward to.” She used that to stay active and engaged.
Looking forward to an event or activity is about finding a form of pure joy. Something that motivates you, gets your mind firing down neural pathways that excite and energize you – a happiness injection, if you will.
Something we have heavily lost these past three pandemic months is personal connections. Many of us are still working. Others have lost their jobs or gone remote. Regardless of your work situation, those friendships and family relationships where you laugh, tell stories, joke around, listen to the people you care most deeply about has fallen away. We aren’t -- for the most part anyway -- seeing friends face-to-face to catch up on the good times.
We can talk on the phone, text, email, Snapchat or Tik Tok away, but it’s not the same. Full human interaction requires seeing body language, a give and take, visual cues, listening to tone of voice and active listening. All those are best done in-person.
This need came up recently as an issue when our younger daughter got off a Zoom call with a group of friends. She came in afterwards and said, “I can’t believe how much I miss my close friends.” I get it.
She’s working locally and living with us while she waits for her first full-time job to start, so she has left college, is isolated from those she’s grown closest to, and doesn’t have the same outlets for fun she had a little over a month ago. When she got on that Zoom call, the pure pleasure of talking with those you know well and have great friendship relationships with where you can be totally YOU became overwhelming apparent to her. “I miss them so much,” she said.
We all miss those people in our lives. More so right now. Probably because we need them in our lives now more than ever.
I’ve been fortunate to have two happiness injections the past two weekends, one when our son came home for Father’s Day and we were able to play some golf, hang out and just catch up on life. Another was a wonderful friend for almost 40 years, Carl. He will hate me for writing this because he is a private person, but it must be said.
He’s a happiness injection in my life. He is a voice of sanity in a world gone nuts. He makes me laugh. He is one of the best storytellers on the planet. He grabs your full attention, easily laughs at himself and some of the goofy things he’s done over the years. How can you not be happy when you know you’re going to be able to see each other and catch up on your respective lives.
Our meetings never disappoint. They aren’t what I project beforehand either since expectations that our imagination envisions never connect with reality. The world is always different than what we fantasize.
But I do receive an injection of friendship happiness. Repeatedly over the years. And I can’t thank him enough for all those times, the total blast to explore our so-very-different worlds yet still connect, share, console and look FORWARD to the future because there’s still wilderness to explore.
Here’s to you, Carl. Keep injecting the happiness.