Dear...
In a time when people are feeling lonelier than ever, I often think about the actions that can change this. The Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, maintains that loneliness is the new smoking and that the health risks associated with feeling alone are along the lines of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That’s a lot of risk.
While there are varying reasons as to why people feel lonely, I can’t help but think about the role small gestures of recognition can play in helping turn things around.
I recently started making my way through the “Dear…” series on Apple TV and was moved in a manner to which I haven’t been moved in a while. The premise of the show, if you haven’t seen it, is that ordinary people write letters of thanks to profiled people including the likes of Oprah, Spike Lee, Malala Yousafzai, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Big Bird. Yes, you read that right. These letters, read out loud by both the writer and the recipient, share the accounts of hope, self-belief, healing, and self-love – celebrated guests, through their work, gave others a platform to which they could rise on.
Often we pay tribute to people after they’re gone, remembering the ways in which they made us better, helped us during our times of struggle or loneliness. While inspirational, the person of influence unfortunately doesn’t benefit from hearing the kind words. What if we made it a point, this year and beyond, to taking the time to genuinely thank a person of influence straight from the heart?
The Apple TV documentary got me thinking about the people in my own life – those who’ve helped me grow, consider new ideas, or just generally be a better human for myself or others. And as I watched the show, I was prompted to wonder if sometimes people feel alone because they’ve lost sight of the impact that they’ve made in the lives of people whom they know. Purpose and meaning, some may argue, is largely derived from the relationships we form over the course of our lives and when we allow the busyness of life to take over, we might end up letting moments of gratitude for people who matter slip away.
I’m not suggesting that people are growing more lonely because they’ve been forgotten, but I can’t help but reflect on what things would look like if more of us (me included) set aside time to call or write someone with words of thanks for how they’ve inspired us to be better.
There’s no denying the power of paying honour to the people who have helped us along our way. If we want to strengthen social well-being across our country, and the world for that matter, perhaps then we have to look at our relationships with more intention.
If healthier outcomes are what we’re looking for, let’s start writing and placing those calls of gratitude.
Think about the people in your life – at home, in your community, or at work. How have they made you a better person, and what’s getting in the way of you letting them know?
