People who are more isolated than they want to be from others find that they are less happy, their health declines earlier in midlife, their brain functioning declines sooner, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.
Interpretation
Isolation negatively impacts happiness and health, leading to a shorter life.
This quote by Robert J. Waldinger emphasizes the detrimental effects of loneliness on individuals, suggesting that a lack of social connections can result in decreased happiness, declining health, impaired cognitive functioning, and ultimately a shorter lifespan. It highlights the importance of fostering relationships and maintaining social ties for a healthier, more fulfilling life.
In practice
In a speech about mental health awareness, one might quote Waldinger to stress the importance of community.
Being human means there's a wall-builder in each of us. Our minds naturally divide the world into me and not-me, us and them. For thousands of years, our sages have taught that we're all one, yet we still divide wherever we look.
It's the quality of your relationships that matters.
The good life is built with good relationships.
It's not just the number of friends you have, and it's not whether or not you're in a committed relationship. It's the quality of your close relationships that matters.
It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected.
Most of what we know about human life we know from asking people to remember the past, and as we know, hindsight is anything but 20/20. We forget vast amounts of what happens to us in life, and sometimes memory is downright creative.
Living together is an art. It's a patient art, it's a beautiful art, it's fascinating.
Sir,"she said,"you are no gentleman!" An apt observation,"he answered airily."And, you, Miss, are no lady.
It's not like we wanted to talk about the fact that we're gay all the time, but the world has forced it to be an issue.
She did not suddenly start being disagreeable this afternoon, she was so good at it, she had evidently practised whatever are the scales and arpeggios of rudeness every day of her life.
Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.
But I want her to grow up knowing that I was the first man ever to fall in love with her. I'd always thought the father/daughter thing was overstated. But I can tell you, sometimes, she looks at me and I just become a puddle.
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