There's a fundamental paradox right at the core of human life.
On the one hand, decades of research has shown that we are highly social creatures who are made happier and healthier by reaching out and connecting with other people in the moments, the days, the weeks, the months, and the years of our lives.
And yet, on the other hand, just look around a little bit. It's not clear that all of us have gotten this memo.
Every day, there are opportunities big and small to reach out and connect with other people that we choose not to take.
We avoid talking to strangers.
We lean back and type to each other rather than leaning in and talking to each other.
Once talking, we stick to shallow talk, to small talk, rather than going deeper.
We feel grateful, but don't express it, wanna reach out to offer support to someone in need, but hold back.
We'd like to be open and honest in our relationships, but all too often keep our true selves to ourselves.
If being socially connected is so darn good for us, then why do we so often seem to be so darn unsocial?
