Social Wellness

Social wellness is a huge part of our overall wellness. The hit to our social lives during this pandemic has been a solid chunk of why we have felt so terrible.

I was discussing this with my husband this week. He is an engineer and works remotely since the pandemic started. He also doesn’t have plans to go back. So how does he cope? He is on Zoom more than he isn’t. His coworkers are spread across the world, so they work together this way. These people, who live thousands of miles apart, all feel like they see each other every day. They have the opportunity to notice each others haircuts and acknowledge their birthdays.

We’ve all seen (At least I hope we have! It’s comic gold!) clips of zoom meetings where someone gets up without pants or their kid runs into the room with underwear on their head. It’s relatable content and we eat it up. It feels like a bright spot in the drudgery. Those moments feel good because you’re connecting with something… or someone. 

I’ve hosted Girls Night via zoom during this pandemic. You can be in your jammies with your own wine glass (or coffee mug!) and click this zoom link, girl. Suddenly, who is to say we aren’t sitting on the couch next to each other? If you cannot see me, you’re going to miss about 90% of what I’m saying. So much of communication is non-verbal. I can’t control my face - or at least, I’m still working on it. Seeing someone on video adds a level of togetherness and intimacy that voice alone doesn’t allow. Think about it - your voice doesn’t always match how you feel, right? I can be rolling my eyes yet be bubbly as sunshine over the telephone. When so many of us are dealing with hard things and mental health struggles, being authentic is such a gift to your people. Zoom (or FaceTime! Or Skype!) is an awesome tool for making the sting of distance a bit more bearable. 

Side note - How mad do you think Skype is right now?! To have been around for years and then Zoom comes in and steals our hearts like that. Rough. 

I can hear it now… “Socialize over zoom?!? What in the captain crunch is this craziness? I work over zoom. I don’t want to socialize over it too!” …and to that I’d say… We’re in a pandemic. Don’t let your insistence on a best case scenario be the thing that keeps you from any meaningful connection at all. 

Try it! Host (or attend) a book club. A girls night. A Super Bowl watch party. A random Wednesday. Get together over zoom and just try it out. It’s free! I bet you’ll come away feeling poured into.