My weekend went by again too fast. I didn’t get much done yesterday, Sunday, but I had a productive day on Saturday. Well, I worked out at home with weights. Then I walked outside alone, in the rain, for over 45 minutes.

On my wet walk, I listened to a few podcasts for a few minutes before settling on the most recent episode from The Atlantic’s How to Build a Happy Life podcast, A New Formula for Happiness. I only listened to the first 16 minutes of it, but I learned something new.

Their guest was Robert Waldinger, who talked about his Harvard study on human happiness that started in 1938. Two major findings from the study were 1) take care of your body like you’re going to need it for 100 years and you end up much more likely to be happy, as well as well, and 2) the people who end up not just the happiest but the healthiest are the people who have more social connections and warmer social connections.

Keeping your body strong and healthy is a no-brainer for me. But more “Warmer Social Connections?”

I kinda twitched inside when I heard this. I’m warm. I can do warm. But can I do many? And for how long? I still need to pause and think about this one. I lean more toward the few-but-hot side of the connection spectrum. Too many social interactions tend to drain me. Even a full day’s work at the office keeps me on internal high alert. I’m so exhausted when I finally stick my key in the car to drive home.

I’m much better with online Warmer Social Connections. I’ve met many people I actually like while taking a few online courses since the COVID pandemic started. And these do not take up too much face time. Plus, there’s also sending messages via text, Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram. These forms do away with small talk, so it’s quick and efficient — straight to sharing stories, exposing vulnerability, choosing authenticity, and busting out with self-deprecating humor.

And that right there may be my formula for more Warmer Social Connections.