Social Capital

Feeling part of a community helps us to feel seen and gives us confidence and identity, and reaching other steps on the hierarchy of needs becomes much easier with a social support system. A strong social network may help in times of crisis, support with job search or with moving houses. It may also be instrumental in inspiring us to reach our full... See more

You Want a Social Life, with Friends

by Kenneth Koch

You want a social life, with friends.

A passionate love life and as well

To work hard every day. What’s true

Is of these three you may have two

And two can pay you dividends

But never may have three.

There isn’t time enough, my friends–

Though dawn begins, yet midnight ends–

To find the time to have love... See more

she suggests, this is because people have an internal alarm clock that goes off at big life events, like turning 30. It reminds them that time horizons are shrinking, so it is a point to pull back on exploration and concentrate on the here and now. “You tend to focus on what is most emotionally important to you,” she said, “so you’re not interested... See more

I struggle to understand why this feeling moves me so much, but there is just nothing else like it. From being so immersed in a conversation that you leave a changed person to getting a job through a friend of a friend.

These precious, golden moments. Sometimes it feels like fate, like we were just in the right place at the right time, sometimes li... See more

As Bill McKibbenwrote recently, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for climate change is live in an area with a high degree of social trust.

We’ve come through 75 years where having neighbors was essentially optional: if you had a credit card, you could get everything you needed to survive dropped off at your front door. But the next 75

... See more

Once people start coupling up, the challenges only increase. Making friends with other couples “is like matchmaking for two,” said Kara Baskin, a journalist who works in Boston. “Not only are you worrying about whether the other woman likes you, you’re also worrying if her husband likes you, if your husband likes her, if your husband likes him.”

The convenience built into socialising in Spain makes it a low-effort ritual. It’s why the “living for the weekend” mindset doesn’t exist, and why the perennially semi-formal look of the average Spaniard makes it difficult to tell the day of the week by their clothes. Dressing correctly daily, they resist wardrobe categories such as weekday wear an... See more

I am a massive advocate of ensuring you have some peaceful time alone. After all, I’m a devoted introvert . I love time alone to think. I love long walks where I can muse on ideas and let thoughts churn and mature. But, experiencing something as a group isn’t about thinking.

This is about belonging - it goes to the core of what it is to be human.

Of... See more

As Oldenburg notes, people’s roles at home and the office are carefully circumscribed, but there’s no status markers at the dive bar except for the ability to drive conversation. That means the tone of such a chat is more playful than purposeful and that it’s completely democratic — if either party stops being entertained at any point, they can jus... See more