On Thursday 15th July Simon and Sadie attended the Spring into business expo in Colchester. The event was hosted by Networking Essex and Heart radio! It was their first official outing in 15 months on a rare afternoon off.
They had a wonderful time mingling with people again and met some amazing people!
Due to the pandemic a lot of people will have missed meeting people face to face and human connection.
Humans are naturally very social, and this can be seen as far back as we can look when we would hunt and travel in social groups. Developing healthy social relationships can increase feelings of happiness, belonging and confidence.
Your wellbeing be improved dramatically just by being around more positive people! Optimism and positive emotions can reduce the risk of a heart attack by up to 50% with happier people living longer and adding up to 7 years to their lifespan!
One of the five pillars of wellbeing is connect with other people this is used on the official NHS website. Connecting with others is proven to help you build a sense of belonging and self-worth, it gives you the opportunity to share positive or negative experiences and it provides emotional support for you and them.
There are many things you can do to connect with others such as arranging days out, have
lunch with a colleague, switching the tv off an playing a game with family, volunteering locally.. the list goes on, but the NHS do make a note of specifically not relying on technology or social media alone to build relationships as this can sometimes be detrimental.
It has been almost impossible through lockdown to not rely on technology so we are all very glad that the country is opening again, and we can begin to see people in social settings!
We cannot wait to begin working with some of our lovely new contacts from the expo! We are most definitely looking forward to many upcoming social events and meeting some more amazing people!