Today’s day one in my happiness project, which means I’ve been doing some research on relationships this morning. I knew this one was going to be a little more challenging for me because I am a strong advocate for independence and our need for relationships can, at times, challenge that belief. It doesn’t have to though I’m starting to realize, in fact, maybe they go hand in hand? We can’t deny that historically, people do better in tribes and communities. We can take that even farther to say that we have evolved to keep healthy relationships over time, which is why they are so important today. Some people might challenge that and say no, in fact they don’t need anyone else to be happy. The fact of the matter is, when we lie down on our death bed we aren’t going to think about how much money we made or how many ribbons we won, we are going to think of how many lives we touched and who touched our very own. It’s only through relationships that we can make a lasting impact on other people’s lives and experience love, one of the most important and basic needs for humans. There have been hundreds of studies on the correlation between peoples relationships and their mental and physical health. In the end of these studies they found that people with strong positive relationships or pets in their lives had significantly stronger immune systems, less depression, as well as healthier and longer life spans then those without. In the end, even I have to concur that people need people.
I’ll be focusing on spending some time with my family and appreciating my friendships today while I’m doing some spring cleaning and homework and possibly talk about it later, I’d love to hear about your own experiences and thoughts on this. Thanks for reading! – Stray.
The Strange Stray 