I’m doing a lot of writing at the moment on the importance of friendships in our lives, and why even if we’re super successful (and social) in our work lives, we can still feel lonely.

I know at points in my life I’ve been surrounded by people both family, clients and people I like…but never invested the time to make closer friendships outside of work.

However, if we’re approaching a period of life when we’re thinking about what happens next, it’s really worth thinking about how we improve our friendships.

My experience is that there’s one thing that isn’t discussed when it comes to social wellbeing. It’s the metaphorical elephant in the room which is never mentioned, maybe because the point I’m going to make is so blindingly obvious everybody assumes you should know this already…but it’s something that changed my perspective on friendship and definitely improved my social wellbeing.

Are you ready for a thunderbolt of the blindingly obvious…

Maintaining social wellbeing takes work.

I did tell you it was obvious didn’t I…but like a lot of things which are blindingly obvious when articulated, they’re often things that we know but don’t do.

It’s the simple things…

A text to a friend we never get round to.

That promise of meeting up for a bite to eat or a drink sometime soon…and then sometime soon becomes months or years.

or that regular check in to your mates WhatsApp group making sure everyone is Ok.

It’s interesting that we intellectually know that we need to make the effort socially to maintain those bonds. 

We know in any area of our lives, be it our working lives, or physical wellbeing or the positive impact we have on our communities, that we need to ‘put the work’ in. 

It’s interesting. So much of the evidence points to the fact that having high levels of positive wellbeing has a fundamental impact on our health and happiness with a recent study talking about the fact that Loneliness has a detrimental impact on our health so extreme it’s equivalent to 15 cigarettes per day.

Yet often whilst we focus on our work, our money and our health many of us (including me) ignore the positive impact simply making a bit of effort in our social lives has on not only our happiness but also our health.

So, let me ask you a question…

What one thing can and you will do today to improve your social wellbeing?

Are you going to call that friend you’ve been meaning to? Arrange a get together with some pals? Or simply send someone a quick text to check in and ask how they are?

I’d love to know how you get on and the one simple thing you do today which adds loads of value.