We must connect the stars to make constellations.
Staying connected was hard enough before the pandemic, and now it sometimes feels impossible! But it’s important for us to keep social, because being social keeps our minds and spirits alive and healthy, which in turn helps us stay physically healthy! Even if “social” looks different nowadays. An article by News in Health found that people with more social connections tend to live longer and have better physical and mental health.
With the now ever-present worry of getting sick, it’s easy to let our social lives fall to the wayside. It’s harder to stay connected, and sometimes we just don’t have the energy. But we must persevere! Below, I have compiled a list of several different ways to stay connected during COVID — many of which have helped motivate me to reach out when I probably wouldn’t have otherwise!
- Host Zoom PowerPoint parties. Topics could be anything! My personal favorites are ones that include the group, like how long each group member would last in the wilderness, why each member would get arrested, each member as characters from Narnia, etc. This article has some other great topic ideas!
- Set up weekly lunch dates with friends or relatives (virtual lunch dates work too!). Eat out or at home, but if at home be sure to swap each week with who gets to pick the meal recipe to keep it fun!
- Hold Among Us nights with friends! I would recommend holding a group Zoom/Discord to make it feel more personal–though everyone has to promise not to tell who the imposter is once they die.
- Make a book club and hold bi-weekly meetings over Zoom to discuss everyone’s favorite parts!
- The classic: call/FaceTime/Zoom weekly to stay connected. Though for me, I usually find I will mainly only do this with my closest friends and relatives. Phone anxiety is real, man!
- Play Charades over Zoom. For this, each person could pick a theme for each round to spice things up! Topic ideas: impersonating one another, acting out famous movie scenes, doing celebrity/character impressions, trying to act out “that one time when…” (for besties).
- Go for walks on the beach with friends or relatives, weather permitting!
- Host socially-distanced campfire nights — complete with hot dogs, smores, and campfire songs of course!
With social distancing, it’s easy to fear being social. But there are many virtual, or even socially limited, ways to stay connected! Maybe you are comfortable with having your bestie over for lunch, but want to do a zoom party with your old school pals. Or maybe you want to only do virtual! Either way, I hope that the options here can help inspire connection, because it’s important.
Notes from a Galaxy Girl 