I read an article today in the Wall Street Journal that made me feel good. It was about the power of friendships. It stated that reconnecting with friends from our past helps our mood. I looked back on my visits with college friends and I agree. I do feel better after connecting with my close friends. It gives me a lift that is more powerful than getting together with new friends. According to the article, we feel that someone from our past understands us, knows us better. I have a few people in my life that fit that bill including two friends from college and a couple from our early married lives. Whenever I get together with any of them, I feel warmth and peace.
My husband has a few friends like that, too. We reconnected with his best friend from grade school through high school when we visited our daughter while she went to college in Utah. Their laughter and fun stories are contagious when they are together. It was such a joy.
Here’s an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal Article by Elizabeth Bernstein:
The Secret Power of Reconnecting With Old Friends
There’s a special boost that only old friends can give us. Here’s why we need it now. Missing old friends? You’re not alone. Pals from our past can give us a sense of stability in turbulent times.Research shows that psychological distress often causes nostalgia. People tend to experience this sentimental longing for the past when they are feeling sad, lonely, anxious or disconnected, or when life feels meaningless or uncertain.
“Covid represents a big sense of discontinuity in our lives. We’ve lost a sense of who we are,” says Clay Routledge, a psychologist and professor of business at North Dakota State University, who has studied nostalgia for 20 years. “Recalling cherished experiences from our past can remind us who we want to be, who we want to be around, and what we feel is important in life.”
Nostalgia increases positive mood, self-esteem and self-confidence, according to studies conducted by Dr. Routledge and others. It makes us feel more socially connected and optimistic. It helps us feel that life has more meaning. And it’s highly motivating, pushing us to pursue goals, reconnect with people who were once important to us, and make new relationships.
We can become nostalgic about any period in our life. But it’s most common to feel a longing for our adolescence or early adulthood, likely because that’s when we developed our sense of identity and forged our own relationships.
Dr. Routledge says that most people feel nostalgic about social experiences, typically with family or friends. We may long for their support or feel we can trust them. Old friends—especially ones from our youth, who may also know our family—are often the people we believe truly understand us.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-secret-power-of-reconnecting-with-old-friends-11637069401?mod=hp_listc_pos3
Do you have people from your past that make you feel good when you reconnect? What do your old friends mean to you?
How lovely.
I text my three best friends from college almost every day. Love them
That’s wonderful. I see mine about once a year but we don’t text very often.
Often the best part of my day because we just float in and out of conversations
I may text my college friends and see if we can connect more often that way.
We do a running 4 way group chat. It’s perfect
I’m disappointed to me missing a reunion of high school friends this weekend. They will all be having lunch in my hometown. I will be 600 miles away. It was bad timing for me to try to be there. I do still text them off and on.
I’m sorry you missed your reunion but it’s good you stay in touch. I’ve only made it to my 10-year reunion.
This would work for me if I had “friends” – at least in the plural. I have one, and we have been friends since we met in the Army, way back while we were crossing the Delaware on that cold December evening. We both live in the Bay area, and he gets me better than my own kids.
😂
By the way, I love the masks.
I have two friends who I wasn’t close to in high school but who went to my high school and with whom I later got close. It’s always lovely to see them again.
That’s unusual to become close later on. But you have a shared background.
Facebook was the reason. So, I guess it’s good for something. Ha!
I do think Facebook is good for connecting with old friends.
I just spent the weekend with my high school girlfriend. She moved 4 hours away so we don’t see each other often anymore. It was SO fun to be together. We check in with each other at the beginning of every month.
I’m so far away from my high school friends. Most are still in Washington state in or near our hometown. That’s so nice you get to see your friend.
Great article! 🙂
Thanks!