Why it is important to make social wellbeing a priority this new year

New beginnings often bring a refreshing sense of renewal, and a new year is definitely one of those moments.

Imagine what life would be if it was just one, long, unpunctuated journey, devoid of any detours and fresh starts.

Using new beginnings as opportunities to set new intentions is a good practice as it engenders a sense of renewed hope and effort for the journey ahead.

Fresh starts allow us to reflect on a journey covered and rejuvenate for the forthcoming one.

I like to see this rejuvenating from the perspective of the P/PC balance described by Steve Covey, the author of the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

P/PC balance is a concept to describe a necessary balance we have to maintain between our output (Production) and our capacity to produce that output (Production Capacity).

While we are expected to produce in various areas: at work as managers and colleagues, at school as students, and at home as parents and carers, but to be effective in these roles we must nurture our production capacity.

In this aspect, we need to avoid focusing more on what we produce and neglect to replenish our ability to produce.

One way we can replenish our production capacity is by intentionally focusing on enhancing our physical, social, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, what Steve Covey describes as sharpening the Saw.

 Today I want to highlight one simple action we can all take to sharpen the Saw on the aspect of social wellbeing this new year: building social connections.

This may sound simple, but it is one of the most important things we can do for our general wellbeing and overall quality of life.

Indeed, the quality of our lives flows almost entirely from the quality of our relationships, and it is especially relevant for mid-career women.

Mid-career is when many women have acquired significant family and career responsibilities, but caught up in the tussle of keeping multiple balls in the air, often the first ball to drop is personal wellbeing. 

As a result, their production capacity takes a hit, potentially leading to a vicious circle of sub-optimal performance both at home and at work.

This leads to stress, which then triggers what is synonymous to what Mark Manson describes as the feedback loop from hell - we are not only stressed about the circumstances around us, we are also stressed by the fact that we are stressed – a double potion of venom!

To mitigate this, we need more than prescriptive measures to remedy already existing stress. We need mitigating measures to help us bounce back rather nimbly from a state of stress.

A strong base of social connections is a significant stress buffer, but it takes a good amount of intention to build it.

You see, when we are young, our social connections often build organically: We move from the family home to the education system, where structures support our social network building.

But when we outgrow these formal institutions, we are more likely to be geographically dispersed from our networks.

One may say that well, there is social media. Of course, social media does a good work of keeping us connected, but it is not only insufficient, it can be detrimental.

Indeed, the detriments of social media on personal wellbeing are becoming more and more evident with research and even our personal experiences.

So, bottom line is that we need to build strong social networks, and do it the good old way! We need to engage more with others to build authentic human connections, face-to-face.

A simple and potentially effective, but often overlooked place is leveraging our areas of interest. The truth is that we can build robust adult relationships based on common areas of interest.

How about putting this in our New Year intentions? Let’s try this: start by identifying one or two areas of interest … things you love doing … it may be reading books, listening to podcasts, gardening, cycling, or community work.

Then, identify one or two people who may share this interest. Then, start a conversation with them and share you intention to engage in frequent activities or conversations about shared areas of interest.

Whatever you do, strive to stay connected in 2024. This is good for personal wellbeing, but also creates a powerful ripple effect to all other aspects of our lives.

Happy New Year!