365 Ways To Wellbeing – 319th Way
Being social is an important part of our wellbeing. I believe that humans are not meant to live alone. We need to be connected to others to feel safe and secure. And to be able to feel that we’re being part of something bigger. You could call it shared humanity I guess.
We have plenty of different kind of social relationships. Our family forms one unit of social relationships. I read an article I while ago that stated how people feel more lonely and less in touch with the community. It also said how people are keeping in touch with their parents, siblings and relatives less and less these days. The article made me sad. Considering that human beings are social creatures, it´s obvious that the more lonely we feel ourselves, the more negatively it affects on our wellbeing.
You´ve seen the post where I´ve gathered around the table with my childhood family to celebrate my father´s birthday and had a winter forest trip with my parents and younger siblings. Yes, I do visit my parents often. Nowadays. I haven´t always done that. I used to be a person who met her parents basically only during the holidays, or not even then. I was like that, even after I had moved to live closer to them.
I felt bad about it but couldn´t change myself. Not until Unna was born. Back then I made a conscious decision that I start to visit my parents more often, no matter what. One reason was Unna – I wanted my children to get to know their grandparents well. Another reason was myself – I wanted to start to create a new kind of relationship with my parents and have their support now that I was also a mother. I haven´t regret my decision. So much joy and warm feelings of connection has came into my life through that decision. And to my children and parents too I believe!
I have 5 siblings. I´ve always felt that my little sister Marianne is most like me. When I did my decision to start visiting my parents again, I also made a decision to start to get to know my little sister better. That was partly why I asked Marianne to become Unna´s godparent.
This day I met Marianne with the girls at the library. We talked about this and that and I watched how Marianne taught Unna to use her camera. I thought about my decision and Marianne. I´ve done many bad decisions during my life, but I realized how getting closer to my family was definitely not one of them. I actually realized that getting to know my family and staying connected to them have been one of the the best decisions I’ve made yet. Positive and meaningful decisions 🙂
Read more about my “Wellbeing Challenge 2013 – 365 Ways To Wellbeing”.
