Our friends advertise the kaleidoscope of ways we can live. They expose us to new ways of being in the world, showing us another life is possible. As

Clive ended up connecting with two people from the networking event, a number that would have been zero if he hadn’t initiated. Clive’s story also reveals that initiative doesn’t mean just showing up. It requires more than that. You must engage with people when you get there, sometimes multiple people. Persistence, it seems, pays off. If you are

Those who could form relationships and call upon those relationships in times of need survived.

Another reason anxious people might end up in lopsided friendships is that anxious people martyr themselves in relationships, silencing their needs and prioritizing those of others, convinced that voicing their needs will drive others away.

One large study found that heavy social media users were either the least lonely or the most, depending on whether social media was used to schedule inperson interactions or replace them.

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

The truth is, what feels vulnerable for us reveals something deeper about what we’ve learned to be ashamed of.

The study lends credence to a psychological theory called reciprocity theory, which emphasizes that people treat us like we treat them. If we are kind, open, and trusting, people are more likely to respond in kind. Secure people, then, don’t just assume others are trustworthy; they make others trustworthy through their good faith.

feeling socially inadequate is not the same as being socially inadequate.