Friendship - a Key to Your Fitness and Wellbeing

I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about people missing their workout groups, missing their cycling friends, wondering when they can reconnect with their Pilates buddies. As this podcast goes live, many of us are still in various phases of social distancing. What I’m really hearing is not the missing of the activity, as much as the missing of the camaraderie.

Playing with friends is as important at 40, 50, 60 as it is at 10. We need connections as much as we need movement. Friends keep us on track, friendship keeps us healthy, friends make our brains work better and our lives fuller.

One of my biggest concerns around the COVID19 pandemic is how we are going to come away from it?

Are people going to be less likely to connect because of a lingering fear of possible consequences? How will this affect our personal and societal well being?

Recently, I was with a couple of friends for a day of kayaking. At the river, my friend Chris recognized an old friend getting in his boat to run the same river. They were so happy to see each other and they hugged. Later she said to me, “oh my gosh, that felt so good to hug and then I remembered we weren’t supposed to”.

A sign of the times.

You don’t have to be hugging but we need to be connecting. Take time on a daily basis to check in with a friend. Not a ‘like or heart’ on social but a real hello. I’ve been finding that there are a lot of people in our world these days that need someone to reach out to them. Plus, by reaching out to them you’re not just helping them, you’re helping yourself too.

Who knows, creating lasting, loving, meaningful connections might just be a silver lining of this pandemic.