The Little Blue Book

SOCIAL ISOLATION AND LONELINESS Humans are social animals. We are at our best when feeling loved and respected and enjoying the companionship of others. A sense of belonging and of connection is an inborn need. For many of us, our emotional resilience rests on “belonging and connection”: on intimacy, on feeling loved and respected, on physical contact, personal interaction, community, and on feeling and sharing compassion. It’s these things, the foundations for our resilience, which can so strongly influence our coping skills and mental health when faced with stressful events and setbacks that life so frequently throws our way. So, resilience, social connection, and the depth and importance of our relationships, are linked. It’s to do with feeling part of the herd. We know, because it makes us happy, that good relationships are good for us. Feeling loved and valued promotes good health, strengthens the immune system, lowers blood pressure, boosts cardiovascular function, and helps us to recover more quickly from illness. People with good relationships live longer and feel more fulfilled from their lives. 1 “Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives. Those ties (…) help to delay mental and physical decline and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.” Liz Mineo Good genes are nice, but joy is better; Harvard Gazette Periods of loneliness From time to time, many of us will go through periods of loneliness, of feeling uncomfortably isolated – lonely. If we’ve suddenly disconnected with friends or social groups (for whatever reason), or if a relationship breaks down, or the family is separated, we may experience a period of loneliness. For most, however, if thrust into a situation like this, we will recognise that this feeling is temporary. We can accept it, and, though harder for some than others, we’ll likely get to work to do something about it – we’ll find a new circle of friends, or we’ll connect to a new community 26 Towards Resilience - The Power of Positivity