Enjoying Other People

Lately, I’ve been really loving other people. I know I risk sounding tacky when I say that, but maybe that ship already sailed.

These days, time spent around other people has been so deeply nourishing. Even in mundane interactions in passing, I’m finding myself experiencing a lot of joy from being around others. I’ve always been pretty extroverted, but this feels different than that. Deeper.

I think you can live a life of love without looking like most people’s idea of a “people person.” That said, though, I think it’s a little too easy these days to make not liking people into a whole personality.

I get it. A lot of stuff is happening in the world and a lot of it can make you feel disappointed in humanity as a whole, or anxious in social settings. But I think leaning into our connections with each other is one of the best uses of our time alive, and one of the most fulfilling. If we go too far down the wormhole of cynicism, I think we’re the ones who miss out on that joy.

Plus, I’ve always found that one of the best ways to restore your appreciation for people is to engage more deeply, rather than to detach.

Here are a few things that have helped me get more joy out of people:

👉 Remembering the statistical unlikelihood of each interaction that happens and reframing it as the miracle that it is.
👉 Staying deeply curious about other people.
👉 Having a sense of humor since every person contains a lot of contradictions and absurdity.
👉 Not having an agenda or trying to change the person right in front of you.
👉 When somebody is voicing something that’s hard to hear or that you deeply disagree with, consider it an act of generosity that you’ve given them an outlet for those feelings that possibly prevents them from coming out in more harmful ways.
👉 Still having boundaries around that. It can be generous to sit and listen to something you disagree with, but not every interaction is for everybody. If one does you more harm than good, it might be best for you and the other person to walk away sooner.