E N E R G I Z E, Day 8: Cultivate Closeness

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E N E R G I Z E

Day 8: Cultivate Closeness

Vitality is a skill.

That is the primary thesis of Vitality Explorers. Crucially, vitality can be learned and taught if it is a skill.

We have talked about a variety of vitality skills including sleep, fitness, weight, and time. Today we turn our focus to closeness. This is often overlooked component of vitality.

Remember, vitality is like a flywheel. Your physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being work together to enhance each other. We call this the VyWheel (TM). You can begin at any point on the wheel.

Today’s learning module will helps us cultivate closeness and enhance our social vitality. Closeness helps us with all of the the other core vitality parameters. It is one of the best ways we experience joy.

Has anyone taught you how to cultivate closeness? It is something we may have thought about in middle school or perhaps high school. We yearn to make friends and connections at that age. College is the perfect environment to foster connections. We live and learn with people for years. That is why those connections can be so close for a lifetime.

After school, however, our ability to make close friends fades. We forget close connections are crucial to our vitality. We ignore our social vitality. This leads to living less than your most vital life.

Close relationships are associated with decreased risk of dying. Social connection is also more important than smoking or obesity. Lack of social connection has become a public health epidemic. (See graphics below)

The rest of this module focuses on specific actionable ways to cultivate close connections. It is a mini-manual for developing and maintaining them.

The first way to improve your closeness is to increase your awareness of its value.

Read on to learn 4 more specific ways to enhance your connections and social vitality.

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