I want to talk about the importance of reaching out to someone who might be on your mind. Perhaps you know they are going through a rough patch . . . an illness or loss, an injury or a hard time at work. Perhaps you just randomly thought of them. Not to get all woo-woo, but I believe that when this happens it’s a sign that you should check in with them. A phone call, a text, a message on Facebook . . . something to just say hi, hello, I’m thinking of you and I want to know how you are doing.

I think a lot of times when we think we should reach out to someone .  . .  we don’t. We ignore our intuition, we tell ourselves we don’t have time, we convince ourselves we would be bothering them, we give a false narrative that it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. I call bullshit. Those are excuses we make to let ourselves off the hook. It’s our own junk, whether it’s fear of rejection or just being an introvert, and it’s getting in the way of making connections with other humans. And those connections are so important. They are the bright spots in a world of drudgery. They create magic out of daily life. They make us feel whole and loved and needed.

Consider this: when you don’t reach out, when you don’t check in, when you don’t make the effort, what is the message you are sending? It’s not that you don’t want to bother them. It’s not that you think they might be too busy. It’s not that you think you might be intrusive. Nope. The message being receives is you don’t care about them. You have forgotten about them. You don’t need them.

I think we all know and recognize that we need each other. This year has taught us that, at least. Sometimes, we need to have a friend ask us how we are doing so that we can come clean and share our crap. Sometimes, we need to be the one who asks so that we can get out of our own head and think about someone else.

I urge you this week to consider who is weighing on your mind, who are you being called to reach out to, who are you missing. And when you identify that person, get in touch with them and ask how they are. The expression sharing is caring is corny, but true. Sharing means we aren’t alone. Sharing means we can go to the darkest, scariest thing our mind can conjure up and acknowledge it and release it. Sharing means love. And at the end of the day, love is what life is all about.