People are very important - how we interact, engage, connect. But being with people - really being with them, not online, I mean in but in person - seems to have become not only less the thing of the moment, but simply something that doesn't happen like it used to (remember when 'community' meant something going on in your street?...). We seem to have forgotten just how vital it is to society as a whole. According to an article in The Guardian loneliness is killing us. It's not hard to see why. When young (and not so young!) people base their self esteem on the number of 'likes' their posts receive on social media, it's clear something has gone desperately awry in our world. I find this alarming and massively unsettling. I don't think it's any coincidence either that, in the same vein, the cause of addiction has also been heavily linked to loneliness. With a massive rise in those of us who work from home, usually alone (although in my case, not quite alone, but rather rampaged by three children!), I fear that the situation can only get worse unless there is mass understanding of how much we need to connect and be with like-minded souls on a regular basis.
I could go on and on in an on-my-soapbox kind of way about how we need not just connection, but real and genuine touch, of the skin to skin, person to person variety - learning about this is what led to the epiphany that meant James from the age of 8 months and Lucy from birth were always carried close to my heart until they gained independence at their own pace. Aware of the importance of connection in my own life - it's something we humans really need in order to thrive - I have begun to foster more in-person connections by travelling around to meet the people I have come to know and respect online; some are very kind customers, some are those I just feel compelled to meet and spend time with.
To this aim, I recently journeyed down to the south coast of England to meet up with three such souls and their small children to drink coffee, eat chips and cake, and to forge a true connection in real life. They were kind enough to let me take photos of them with my wraps and I offer grateful thanks to Alex, Jenny, Mark and Vik, and to their sweet little folks in tow...
