Got 10 Minutes and a Phone? Get Unlimited Good Vibes.

Plus, a gratitude cherry on top

In 2023, the surgeon general released a report claiming loneliness brought the same dangers to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Don’t smoke 15 cigs per day and don’t let yourself get lonely. Start calling your friends instead. Obviously, seeing your friends in person is even better, but start with the phone. You’ll find less friction. You can do it consistently and will smile at the end of more calls than you don’t. 

We live in a text first world. But a text message is a quick fix for relationships, and quick fixes are usually just quick. They rarely fix anything. Instead, I started making time to call a friend once per day. Just to say hello. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes, and they highlight my day. The best calls go out to people I haven’t talked to in a year or more. We let some friendships go for no good reason. We just don’t see them often, don’t call, and they drift away. Nothings splits them apart or pushes them away. We just get busy and don’t make the time to stay connected. But putting in a little effort there pays off ten fold in good feelings. 

Here’s what used to get in my way:

• “Being Busy”

• “What would I even say?”

• “I don’t know who to call.”

I’ll tackle each of these to show how we can overcome these excuses, because they’re not very good ones.