Lessons From the Blue Zones

There’s no single way to live a healthy life, but people living in Blue Zones have a few ideas.

BlogAllison ScharmannOctober 10, 2024lifestyle, happiness, community, connection, stress, stress reduction, social connection, social bonds, conversationComment

5 Ways to Make a New Friend

Move over dating, the scariest part of adulthood isn’t finding love, it’s making new friends!

Allison ScharmannApril 11, 2024friendship, connection, skip the small talk, how to make friends, how to talk to anyone, how to make a new friend, friends, conversation, conversation starters Comments

How to reduce workplace loneliness

Loneliness in general is rampant; studies conducted before the pandemic suggest that three out of five Americans are lonely, and a dearth of meaningful workplace relationships are a huge contributor to that. I’d imagine that given the spike of social isolation during the pandemic, those numbers are even worse now.

And in terms of the impact of loneliness on the workplace specifically, according to recent research, only 20% of employees “strongly agree” that they have a best friend at work. But if that percentage could budge to just 60%, companies would yield 12% higher profit, end up with 36% fewer safety incidents, and gain 7% more engaged customers.

So, if you’re in a position to influence the culture of your workplace, what can you do to create a culture of social connection at work?

Ashley KirsnerApril 1, 2021pandemic, covid, covid19, covid-19, loneliness, lonely, lonely at work, lonely at the office, office loneliness, office, work, work loneliness, working from home, alone, connection, team-building, team-building events, team building that isn't cheesy, team building events that aren't cheesy, Skip the Small Talk, Skip the Small Talk blog, blog, blog post, blogpost, work boundary, work boundaries, work-life balance, work life balance, research, psychology research, psychology studies, loneliness stats, work loneliness stats, loneliness at work stats, online team-building, online team building, online team building events, online team-building events, online team-building event, online team building event, workplace loneliness, reduce workplace loneliness, how to reduce loneliness, how to reduce workplace loneliness, how to fix loneliness, belonging, best team-building event, best team-building events, best team building event, best team building eventsComment

Potato chip connections

Chances are, you’ve had the experience of binging on potato chips or other junk food when what you really wanted was a meal. You’re famished, so instead of taking the time to cook something, you reach for whatever’s quickest, easiest, or most tempting, but you end up feeling like garbage. Connection can work similarly.

Ashley KirsnerAugust 28, 2017connection, connections, skip the small talk, Skip the Small Talk, Skip the Small Talk blog, potato chip, potato chips, potato chip connections, junk food, loneliness, lonely, how do I stop being lonely, how can I stop feeling lonely, learning, hollow, I feel hollow, I feel hollow inside, vulnerability, vulnerable, hungry for connection, Tinder, Facebook, social media, alone together, lonely in a crowd, alone in a crowd, isolated, isolation, social isolation, socially isolated, feeling lonely, feel lonely, I feel lonely, I feel alone, love, validation, learning process, suicide hotline, just want to talk, social interactions, social interaction, connected, feeling connected, how to feel connected, feel connected, rejection, rejected, social media addiction, social media addict, am I a social media addict, am I a social media addict?, wholesome connections, wholesome connection, potato chip connection, numbing, numb, craving connection, how to connect, how to connect with people, blogsComment

A Better "How are you?"

Cultural niceties can make it challenging to answer “How are you?” honestly if you are feeling much more than, “Fine, thanks. How about you?” If you change up the phrasing of your question even slightly, though, it can often be enough to disrupt the automatic process that leads to uninformative and uninteresting answers. Here are some options for making it easier on others to answer you honestly, even if they’re not feeling “fine.”

Ashley KirsnerApril 17, 2017how are you, connection, connecting, getting to know people, getting to know you, habit, habits, what's new, what's new?, how are you?, what's been on your mind, what's been on your mind?, how have you been feeling, feeling, how's life, how's your life, how is your life, what's exciting in your life?, what's exciting in your life, real answer, real answer to "how are you", negative emotions, modeling, model, authentic, authenticity, genuine, genuineness, open, openness, getting people to open up, vulnerable, vulnerability, frustration, emotion, emotions, what's up, sup, fine, fine thanks, lately, these days, not much, connect, STST, how to skip the small talk, skip the small talk, healthy relationship, how to have a healthy relationship, healthy relationships, relationship, relationships, managing relationships, talk big, talk big not small Comment

How to be lonely

America is incredibly lonely, but social norms and the nature of loneliness, itself, can make it difficult for people to take the actions that make them feel more connected to others; loneliness can lead to a feedback loop in which feelings of isolation make you perceive the world in ways that lead you to feel even lonelier.

Since this leaves a lot of folks feeling trapped in their loneliness and unable to see a way out, we decided to develop some activities to help break the cycle.

TIPS, STORIES, AND insPiration