There’s no doubt recent national events have underscored the value of our social support systems to overall wellbeing. While most of us typically choose people a lot like ourselves as our friends, it’s clearly time to move beyond this constraint. The world is a delightfully diverse planet and we need to create friendscapes that reflect this diversity.
We should revel in any chance to engage with those who bring new perspectives and new challenges to our own limited perceptions. Being open to diversity will greatly expand the pool of potential friends and foster your personal development, too.
Inviting diverse friends into your social circle gives you space to learn and grow and express innovative ideas that other friends may not embrace -- and that’s okay. Friendly conversations with those whose ideas differ from our own help crystallize what we believe -- or think we believe -- and also challenge us to assess the utility of our beliefs.
Society feels more polarized than ever today. Sadly, polarization focuses on “single stripes” of identity rather than holistic identity. That’s why connecting one-on-one with dissimilar people is so beneficial as we get to know the whole person which leads to empathy and understanding. This breaks down barriers and builds friendships, too.
Remember that social boundaries you create to keep others out will also keep you locked in. After months of lockdown, it’s high time we broke through those social barriers that we ourselves imposed.
I’m Suzanne Degges-White and that’s my perspective.
