Social Connection. This is a topic that I have thought about writing about for a long time. However, at the time when I was thinking about writing it, I was going to talk about how we need to put down our phones. What should be a way to connect to more people, is really just tearing us apart and not allowing us to be the social people that we strive to be. Humans need connection. They need people who to talk to, to share life experiences with, to ask advice from, to be happy. But now in this time, it might not be our phones that are tearing us apart. 

With the coronavirus and new suggestions that are begging us to stay inside, I think that many people are now realizing how much we really do need to have a connection with others. Suddenly people are finding themselves missing school, the one thing many teens say they hate, but they are dying just to talk to the people that they miss. But could this be a good thing? What if social distancing really is what pushes us all back together? The cancellation of school may be taking us away from our teachers and friends, but it also is bringing us back to our families, forcing us to spend time together. 

We live in a world that is constantly moving. We go and go and go. We keep ourselves busy and never set aside time for a slowdown. Even Sundays are crammed full of activities like practices and homework galore. These next few weeks might be torturous at first for those who are like me and always try to find some way to keep themselves busy or distracted. But, maybe after a week or so we can take the time to look around. Get up for the sunrise, do a puzzle or play a board game, look at the people you love and have good conversations. Families like mine who are always moving should take full advantage of this forced time out. Maybe we can all finally eat dinner together and have something like game night and do the things that we have always said we wanted to do but never had the time. So here we have the time. 

And it’s not just about spending time with the people we love but after this is all this is over maybe we will finally appreciate the things that we are so blessed to have. Getting to go to school and being a part of sports is 100% a privilege and not something that should be dreaded. And maybe from now on when we spend time with our friends we will look at them in the face and we will appreciate their existence and presence in our lives. Because the coronavirus is proof that nothing in this world is guaranteed. 

Let’s take a time out and live it to the absolute fullest. Let’s see the small and beautiful things and the things that take time. Let us start counting our blessings and thank God for the things and people He has put in our lives.