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 create occasions to run into people. Nobody
Speaker 1: wants to live an isolated life, and while you can
Speaker 1: and should make plans with the people you are close to,
Speaker 1: there is much to be said for allowing some serendipitous
Speaker 1: connection as well. So if you work in an office
Speaker 1: miss days, spend lots of time on the sidelines of
Speaker 1: soccer games, show up at worship services each weekend, and
Speaker 1: regularly groom the local trails as a volunteer. You probably
Speaker 1: cross paths with lots of people that you sort of
Speaker 1: know every day, but many people don't have as many
Speaker 1: occasions for socializing with people who we might call week ties.
Speaker 1: That means you're friendly but not best friends. You're not
Speaker 1: going to call these people frequently, but you like to
Speaker 1: see them when you do. Sometimes, over time, relationships can
Speaker 1: become closer or weak. Ties can introduce you to other
Speaker 1: people or share information like a great camp for your
Speaker 1: kids that's not sold out by October, or who to
Speaker 1: talk to if you have a problem with your trash
Speaker 1: collection service. Your best friends already know a lot of
Speaker 1: the same stuff you do. The people you run into
Speaker 1: occasionally move in different circles, so they have more new
Speaker 1: stuff to offer. So how can you run into more people?
Speaker 1: One option is to be a little less efficient with
Speaker 1: the things you have to do. Yes, grocery delivery is
Speaker 1: great if you are on a tight schedule, but are
Speaker 1: you always Maybe some days you could go to the
Speaker 1: grocery store at five fifteen pm, when absolutely everyone else
Speaker 1: is there, or on Saturday afternoons. If you have lived
Speaker 1: in your town for a while, the odds that you
Speaker 1: bump into someone you know are large. Same for shopping
Speaker 1: for gifts. Stop by the bookstore and see what's there
Speaker 1: and just as importantly, who is there. Another great way
Speaker 1: to cross paths with people is to exercise out in
Speaker 1: the world instead of just at home. Run outside, or
Speaker 1: go to the gym instead of running on the treadmill
Speaker 1: in your basement. If you start going to the gym
Speaker 1: at around the same time most days, not only will
Speaker 1: you bump into people you know from elsewhere, you might
Speaker 1: start getting to know the other regulars. That is a
Speaker 1: win all around. If you are a remote worker, consider
Speaker 1: working away from home one to two days a week.
Speaker 1: There's no need to add on a long commute. But
Speaker 1: if you've got a bustling coffee shop nearby, you could
Speaker 1: go work there for two hours two afternoons a week
Speaker 1: and feel a lot less isolated. Of course, if you
Speaker 1: are arranging your life to run into people, you should
Speaker 1: be prepared to spend a little time with the people
Speaker 1: you run into. While you are doing this, build in
Speaker 1: a little extra time for things if you don't need
Speaker 1: to be somewhere immediately afterwards, you can have a conversation
Speaker 1: with people rather than racing off, and consider joining groups
Speaker 1: or organizations where you're likely to see a lot of folks.
Speaker 1: There are a great many reasons to volunteer, but feeling
Speaker 1: like you are part of a community is a big one.
Speaker 1: Professional groups can also be great. You don't have to
Speaker 1: go to everything, but going to some things allows you
Speaker 1: to run into people. It's interesting in our digital age,
Speaker 1: how removed from everyone else we can be. I remember
Speaker 1: when services like grubhub or uber eats first became a thing.
Speaker 1: How odd it was to order food and not deal
Speaker 1: with a single other human being. The food just appeared
Speaker 1: on the doorstep. I didn't even have to call the restaurant.
Speaker 1: And talk to the person at the counter. And in
Speaker 1: many ways this is amazing. My order is less likely
Speaker 1: to get garbled in the process. But sometimes we can
Speaker 1: go a little too far and walling ourselves off. The
Speaker 1: world is full of wonderful people. It's nice to say
Speaker 1: hello on occasion. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our times.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.