Well to the Core With Robin LongShembull

The Power of Connection

We inhabit a world that looks considerably different from the generations before us. Many of us don’t live near extended family, and our schedules move at an unrelenting pace. As a result, it can be hard to regularly spend time with friends and family. We juggle work, travel, volunteering schedules, sporting events, carpooling, errands, and more.

Sometimes spending time with others just seems too complicated to arrange, so it takes a back seat. While it’s true that we can stay connected with people through technology, nothing can compare to the value of in-person relationships.

You may be in a season that makes it hard to feel connected to others the way you’d like. Perhaps you’re in a phase of nonstop caretaking, as I was after my twins were born. Or you may be battling an illness that makes it hard to participate in social events. Perhaps your current work schedule offers little margin for gathering with friends, or perhaps you’re so tapped out by the end of the day that making plans requires more energy than you can muster.

With all these factors, it’s easy to see why we’re at risk for isolation and loneliness.

Connection is a basic human need—we were designed to be in relationship with others. Just as we need water, air, and food, we need one another. Positive social connections have been shown to have the following benefits: improved immune health, lower blood pressure, increased ability to recover from disease, reduced levels of anxiety and depression, and increased longevity.

The flip side is also true. A lack of social connection has been associated with the following harmful effects: slower wound healing, delayed cancer recovery, impaired immune function, increased inflammatory biomarkers, and increased risk of death, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and cancer.

God created us to live in community with others—to serve and be served, to love and be loved. Just as the body needs all the different parts working together to flourish, so we need one another to become who God wants us to be and to do what he calls us to do.

If we’re not making human connection a priority, we’re missing out on a significant part of what it means to be well. Human connection matters a lot—for the mind, the body, and the soul.