Be Kind, Everyone is Fighting a Social Atrophy You Know Nothing About

And so we struggle to reach out, and to respond with our fragile hurting brains. We want connection, and we also find the possibility potentially very difficult when we’re not doing so well. After all, if you invite someone over, they will see your messy house, and maybe judge you. And everyone’s “house” is a mess right now in one way or another.

love the hack to reach out right before ‘correspondence bankruptcy’ to reduce pressure on the recipient 👍🏽 i also try to generally cultivate a norm of ’no response necessary’ with anything i send; if it’s urgent i’ll call or say so.

this made me reflect on my frequent desire for solitude, often by saying or feeling that ‘my social cup is full’. i never thought that it might cost me some ‘social muscles’ but i can see that as a possibility if it goes on for too long. nevertheless, i’d like to think that i know when i want to have company and when not, that i have good judgement in balancing this within myself.

in what seems to now be a previous life, where i felt an overwhelming lack of social interaction, friendship, or companionship, i practiced what i called ‘shake the tree’ once or twice a year: dm everyone with warm wishes and my current city. many were happy i sent this, many reacted with a simple emoji, many didn’t respond, but it generally felt worthwhile for me.