174. Connections
Connections to others, places and ourselves. This episode answers some of the questions you didn't know you had about how we can feel more connected.
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Transcript
Hello darling heart, and welcome to this episode of the drink less, live better podcast.
-:This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring.
-:I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.
-:I'm a best selling author, expert speaker, and life coach.
-:I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures.
-:Give me a follow over on Instagram at drink less, live better, and head to the website drink less, live better.com, where
-:you will be able to sign up to the 5 day drink less experiment, find blog posts, and you can choose to join the email club
-:where I share resources, wisdom, insights, and glimmers of hope and joy. I hope you enjoy this episode. Let's get straight to it. Connexions.
-:It's a vital ingredient in the recipe for emotional well-being.
-:You might think that you've got your connections sorted, but we could all use a bit of a shake up now and then, particularly in midlife.
-:So let's look at why branching out matters and how can we do it without feeling like we're back at school.
-:I like to see it as shaking up our mental snow globe.
-:Do you remember those snow globes you used to love as a child?
-:You give them a really good shake and suddenly everything looks different. 1 of my boys used to collect those snow globes.
-:He had them from museums, galleries, and zoos all along his windowsill.
-:And one day, there was a massive gust of wind and an incident with his blind wiping the whole lot of them off the floor and smashing on his bedroom carpet.
-:That was not a joyful day in our household.
-:Anyway, making new connections is like giving your mental snow globe a vigorous shake.
-:It's really easy to get stuck in our own little bubbles surrounded by the same faces, same ideas, and same old routines.
-:But when we connect with new people and explore new places, we're exposed to fresh perspectives that can challenge our assumptions and perhaps broaden our horizons.
-:When was the last time you had a conversation that made you go, ah, I never thought of it that way?
-:Well, if you can't remember, perhaps it's time to strike up a conversation with that quirky neighbour or perhaps join a local group that stretches your comfort zone.
-:Maybe visit a creative class you've never been to before but fancied.
-:The point is to expose yourself to different viewpoints and experiences.
-:Last year, I did a pottery class every week for a year, and I loved the people that I met on that course. It was brilliant.
-:And, of course, it's not just about the people.
-:New places can shake up your perspective too.
-:Even if you can't jet off to exciting holidays, you can explore a new neighborhood or park in your own town.
-:These places will always offer fresh insights.
-:You might discover your new favorite coffee shop or perhaps a hidden gem of a bookshop.
-:The key is to approach these new experiences with an open mind and a sense of curiosity.
-:You might just find that your mental snow globe looks a whole lot more interesting after a good shake.
-:When I was at university, my friend and I used to pick a really random sum of money, like £3.87.
-:And bear in mind, this was the late nineties.
-:And we would go to our local train station and say to the guy at the sales desk, where can we get a return to for this amount of money?
-:And we visited some amazing towns and villages all around the county that we were at for university and saw new places that we never would have seen.
-:Did we not play the random train ticket game? Perhaps that's one for you. Emotional expansion. Let's talk about emotions. You know I love that.
-:We often think of our emotional capacity as fixed.
-:I'm just not a very emotional person, or I really wear my heart on my sleeve.
-:But our emotional range is actually more like a muscle.
-:The more we exercise it, the more it grows, and making new connections is like going to the gym for your feelings.
-:Perhaps we get to see and feel more of a range.
-:Each new person we meet and each new place we experience offers a unique emotional fingerprint, that butterflies in the stomach
-:feeling when you're about to meet someone new.
-:The sense of awe when you witness a breathtaking view for the first time.
-:These are your feelings being experienced fully.
-:In the show notes, I'm gonna put a copy of the feelings wheel.
-:This is a tool I love to use with my one to one clients when we're talking about what emotions they're experiencing in any particular time.
-:By exposing ourselves to new connections, we're giving ourselves the opportunity to feel a wider range of emotions. It's not always comfortable.
-:In fact, it can be scary at times.
-:Next time you're feeling a bit wobbly about meeting new people or visiting a new place, remind yourself that you're not being scared.
-:You're actually being incredibly brave and giving your emotional muscles a really good stretch. And here's a cheeky little secret.
-:The more you flex those emotional muscles, the better equipped you'll be to handle life's ups and downs.
-:It's a bit like emotional cross training.
-:You never know when that resilience you built up from trying something new will come in handy in other areas of your life. Self discovery, last but not least.
-:Let's talk about the most important relationship of all, the one you have with yourself.
-:Making new connections isn't just about understanding other people better.
-:It's also a fantastic way to discover new pieces of your own personality.
-:New connections act like mirrors, reflecting back aspects of yourself you might not have seen before.
-:So how do we go about making these new connections?
-:Well, the good news is you don't need to transform into a massive extrovert, a social butterfly overnight, or book around
-:the world travel ticket, unless you want to, in which case, go for it. Start small.
-:Say yes to that invitation you'd usually decline.
-:Strike up a conversation with somebody new at work, or plan a day trip to a nearby town you've never visited.
-:It's not about the quantity of connections, but the quality.
-:One meaningful new connection will be just as valuable as many, many connections.
-:Making new connections with people and places shakes up our perspectives, stretches our emotional muscles, and helps us to discover new sides of ourselves.
-:What could possibly be better than that?
-:Check out today's show notes and find out about the ways we could work together.
-:There's sober coaching and life coaching, and PS, I believe in you.
