Making New Friends While Socially Distancing and a Project for Confined Children
Anecdotes (stories) are the weakest form of scientific evidence. However, scientific evidence has established the value of storytelling on the molecular level in the brain. Stories can increase oxytocin, otherwise known as the “cuddle” hormone. https://www.livescience.com/42198-what-is-oxytocin.html. Oxytocin signals that we should care about others, which can, in turn, lessen our loneliness. So I am herein sharing a story of mine.
In the socially painful time of “social distancing,” the Hingham Historical Society (“HHS”) started a project entitled Hingham on Hold. HHS invited the residents of Hingham, MA to submit their experiences of living in the era of COVID19. The following is my submission, a portion of which was published in the Boston Globe, on Sunday, April 5, 2020, p. B10. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/01/metro/town-hold-hingham-chronicles-pandemic/
“Hingham folks are courteous, even more so as we respect one another’s expanded personal space to avoid spreading COVID19. When I walk my dogs, I step into driveways and alcoves to allow others to pass. Invariably, we exchange knowing nods and thank you’s, sometimes expressed with exasperation, always with understanding. Perhaps these exchanges are the seeds to new friendships that will bloom when we can once again invite one another into our homes as we might have pre-COVID19.
“On the last Sunday that St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hingham was open, we had gotten wind that we might be directed to shelter in place; so I wondered how parents with children would keep them constructively occupied. Sally Davenport had engaged me in her project to turn plastic newspaper bags into string to be crocheted into bags. At coffee hour, I was cutting the bags and making string in hopes of attracting others to similarly recycle. Elliot and Bryan (8 year old twins) were my most enthusiastic helpers. They strung enough plastic string to stretch the entire length of Upper Weld Hall! I sent them home with more bags to give them a project at home. Their mother Jessica was grateful.
“Later that week, as I sat alone at home, feeling a bit sad for our circumstances, I heard my mail slot open. Elliot and Bryan had written and delivered to me the attached thank you note — complete with illustrations. (Attached.) That gave me such a lift! Now when I pass their house, when I’m walking my dogs, and they are outside, we all great each other by name and wave happily at a safe distance. Jessica suggested we plan to FaceTime soon.
“I feel this is a good example of how the stress of social distancing is causing us to reach out and make new friends that we might not otherwise have made. This gives me hope that the social distancing we must observe to prevent COVID19 from overwhelming our healthcare system, our communities, and our loved ones, will not break our spirits. We will thrive and survive!
Madeline J. Robertson, J.D., M.D.
Solutions for Reversing the Loneliness Epidemic — Founder, President & CEO at Here With You, Inc.