‘Social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ are terms being used everywhere at the moment and whilst, yes, physically, we are away from other people, mentally and emotionally we do not have to be. This is why we are committing an entire day of the week to the special people in our lives with FRIDAY FRIENDS. Each Friday, we will think about staying connected, showing love and kindness to the people in our lives, and overcoming loneliness.
It has been shown that regular contact with friends significantly increases happiness and lengthens life. Indeed, when Ed Diener and Martin Seligman compared the happiest people to the least happy people, they found that the happiest people had the strongest relationship ties – even stressing that good social relations were a necessity for people to feel happy.
So each Friday we are looking at strengthening our relationships with others and thinking about how we might do this without physical contact.