Be Happier and Live Longer

An often overlooked aspect of our health and wellness is the Social dimension of wellness. We are all social creatures; like most things, to varying degrees.  Your social wellness is your ability to relate to and connect with other people  and how you establish and maintain positive relationships with others, friends, family, co-workers and even people you don't know ("strangers").  

Being an pretty strong introvert myself, my social wellness is something that is more difficult for me to improve on than other dimensions (physical, emotional, career, intellectual, environmental, spiritual).  Today I'd like to simply offer up some suggestions that recently have worked for, an introvert, to further my social wellness.  More importantly - open up comments to you, to offer up suggestions of things that have worked for you in terms of becoming more connected and creating healthier relationships.  I like to keep things simple, so I will stick to three. feel free to post more

1.  I joined Kiwanis.  I joined the Kiwanis Club of Wauwatosa several years ago and have been an active member since.  We meet once a week and have lunch, socialize and plan and implement different fundraiser and projects within the community to support the community and try to improve it.  It has helped me find new friends, role models and given me a sense of pride in serving the community.  Some research has shown that being part of a service group that meets at least once a month can extend you life up to 5 years and improve the quality of your health in those years!

2.  I started wokring out at Crossfit Milwaukee.  Prior to that I exercised on my own, whether it was running, biking or strength training, I did it solo - typical introvert.  To me Crossfit is a community of like minded people that get together and work on improving their physical fitness through often intense and exhausting workouts. This is a "two-fer" for me because it has also been HUGE in improving my physical wellness. Again, I have made some new friends and look forward to my 5:30am workouts and being a part of a larger community, both at Crossfit Milwaukee and as part of the greater Crossfit community world-wide.  

3.  Volunteering/Fundraising.  I recently joined team Kellan & Logan for the upcoming March for Babies walk this Saturday, April 27th.  March of Dimes is a Non-Profit organization that helps infants.  Infants like our now two-year-old triplets that were born 10 weeks early at ~3 lbs each.   I will be forever greatful to the advances in technology, emergency medical care and assistance that helped out children to thrive during those first weeks of life.   Giving back in the form of fundraising and joining in on this upcoming walk with other people in the community helps create a stronger sense of community and a feeling of being able to give something back.

What things have you done this year that have strengthened your social wellness, added happiness and potentially days, weeks or years to your life!?  

Have a great week, be well!

Links: Kiwanis, Crossfit Milwaukee, March for Babies