2013 Faith (in) Wellness Challenge Week 12: Reconnect with friends and family

When you live far away from your family and best childhood friends, it’s hard to stay in touch. Unless you make it a priority often, you most likely won’t.

I’m blessed to have a loving family and wonderful friends who all get along so well that we can pick up right where we left off, despite the fact that it may have been over a year since we saw each other last. Hopefully you have one or two people in your life who make you feel the same way.

I’ve noticed that something funny happens when you leave high school and college behind. If you move to a new place or your friends all move away, it’s hard to make really close friends again. You can’t ever really seem to find those people who you feel completely 100% comfortable around. Every once in a while one comes into your life, but it certainly seems to be a struggle to find them.

That’s why it’s nice to make the calls to the people who matter most in your life. To the people you feel most comfortable with, to the people who you can feel yourself around. It’s nice to have conversations where you don’t have to worry about what you say because you’re not quite sure how the other person is going to take it. It’s nice to not have to worry because you know the person on the other end of the line really knows, gets and understands you.

Mentally and emotionally, we need to have those comfortable friends in our lives. Whether they live next door or in different countries, we must find ways to stay in touch to nurture not only our relationship with each other but also to nurture our own souls.

I challenge you to reconnect with a friend or family member every single day for one week. The soul high you receive will feel so great, you’ll probably willingly continue on past your personal one-week challenge.

Here are some ideas for ways you can connect with people far and near:

1. Make a phone call
2. Send a text message
3. Send an email
4. Write on someone’s Facebook wall
5. Write someone a message on Facebook
6. Tweet to someone
7. Send a direct message through Twitter
8. Share a recipe with a good friend unprompted
9. Write a letter and send it snail-mail style
10. Send a thank you/thinking of you card just because
11. Invite someone over for dinner
12. Invite someone over for breakfast
13. Invite someone over/out to lunch
14. Invite someone over/out to brunch
15. Take a yoga class with a friend
16. Have a tea gathering with close friends
17. Throw a party for your favorite people
18. Pack a picnic and invite your friends
19. Invite someone on a walk/run
20. Make a Skype date
21. Go to a winery with your best pal
22. Take an art class with someone you love
23. Sit on the couch and watch TV/a movie together
24. Bake with your friends/family and then love your creations together
25. Plan a trip together

Funnily enough, as I set my intention last week to call old friends I actually received an email from a friend who has been traveling for about a year overseas. Once you start giving your time with intention to the people who matter most to you in your life, you start receiving that same attention back.

It feels good to be loved. To be understood. To be known. Sometimes it’s hard to find. Know where you can find it and seek those people out on a regular basis.

To have a healthy soul, we must feed it good conversation without judgment, fear or anxiety.

How do you plan on reconnecting this week? Let me know in the comments below.