Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to invite people to share meals with you.
Speaker 1: You have to eat, so you may as well use
Speaker 1: the opportunity to connect. An essay in the most recent
Speaker 1: World Happiness Report claimed that sharing meals with others is
Speaker 1: related to subjective well being and that people who share
Speaker 1: meals with others have higher levels of life satisfaction and
Speaker 1: positive effect. But according to the essay, we're sharing meals
Speaker 1: with others less frequently than we used to. The American
Speaker 1: Time You survey finds that one in four Americans reported
Speaker 1: eating all their meals alone the previous day, up three
Speaker 1: percent since two thousand and three. If people who eat
Speaker 1: together tend to be happier, and fewer Americans are eating
Speaker 1: together these days, no wonder a lot of people report
Speaker 1: being unhappy or disconnected. Now, to be sure, it's not
Speaker 1: absolutely certain what direction that association goes. Perhaps when people
Speaker 1: are unhappy, no one wants to eat with them, and
Speaker 1: so it's not the shared meal that's causing happiness. But
Speaker 1: it's also pretty easy to share meals with people. And
Speaker 1: given that you have to eat. You might use meals
Speaker 1: as an occasion to bring more people into your life regularly.
Speaker 1: In most cases, you and they will be happy that
Speaker 1: you did. For instance, maybe your elderly neighbor or the
Speaker 1: college student who rents the house next years might want
Speaker 1: to join your family for dinner some night. It doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be a fancy dinner party. My guess is
Speaker 1: that they would be absolutely fine with the same posts
Speaker 1: you are feeding your kids. Your work friend might be
Speaker 1: happy to stop by after work to have pizza with
Speaker 1: your family. Your yoga buddy might like to stop by
Speaker 1: your house after class on Saturday for coffee and muffins.
Speaker 1: Or you might build in something more regular. I know
Speaker 1: some people who have potluck dinners on Sundays for friends
Speaker 1: that become a major source of joy in their lives.
Speaker 1: Everyone brings a dish and has something fun to look
Speaker 1: forward to on Sunday evening, which wards off the Sunday
Speaker 1: scarries for a few more hours. If you are on
Speaker 1: the receiving end of invitations, well, don't hesitate to accept.
Speaker 1: Sure there will be moments of awkwardness and you might
Speaker 1: have to suspend your healthy eating practices for a night,
Speaker 1: but the boosting connection and happiness may be worth it.
Speaker 1: Even at work, you can regularly share meals with others.
Speaker 1: If your office has a culture where some people eat
Speaker 1: together in the breakroom or cafeteria, try to join in.
Speaker 1: Can I join you works perfectly fine as an opening line.
Speaker 1: Hopefully this is not the middle school cafeteria where this
Speaker 1: would be an issue, and if your office doesn't have
Speaker 1: that culture, you could try starting it. This could be
Speaker 1: as simple as sending a Slack or team's message saying
Speaker 1: you will be eating your lunch in ten minutes in
Speaker 1: the breakroom and inviting colleagues to join you. See who comes.
Speaker 1: If you have a good conversation, you can do it
Speaker 1: again and have others join you the next time. It
Speaker 1: will grow, It will become a thing, and work will
Speaker 1: start being a lot more fun. We all have to
Speaker 1: eat and we need to connect, so inviting other people
Speaker 1: to join you at the table can be a natural
Speaker 1: and meaningful way to take any day from great to awesome.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to before breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.