Connection for wellbeing
 

Connection and Community

You’ve chosen the Connection & Community Pathway.

We're hardwired to be around people. Strong social connections have many benefits for our mental health and emotional well-being. Like lowering anxiety and depression, strengthening our immune system, and helping us recover from disease faster. It may even lengthen our lives. ⁠

We now know how critical it is to have good relationships for our mental and physical health, as well as our emotional well-being, and this is particularly urgent as we're becoming increasingly isolated and lonely. 

We’re finding that we need all kinds of interactions with those around us.⁠ That can mean just being in space with others making small (but super important) talk or it could mean developing lasting and meaningful relationships that sustain us through our days.

What can you do to bring in more connection, maybe even more community, into your life? How might it help your emotional well-being and mental health? Below are a few ideas and some places/initiatives that you can seek out if stuck for inspiration. What are you willing (even if terrified – hello fellow introverts) to try to help feel better in your days?


Check out our featured places to connect

Cafes (so many cafes), anti-loneliness initiatives, mom-and-pop stores, coworking spaces, indie markets, community bookstores, civic dinners, festivals, bakeries, and healthy high streets.

Community & Connection means something different to each of us, but at the heart of this Pathway is how we see each other, how we can learn to understand one another, and how we can gather to share time and space.

Here’s a rundown of the places we’ve featured on If Lost, Start Here so far.


Did we miss somewhere that you love to connect? Is there a community you can’t do without? You can contribute your ideas here


UK Places


US Places


Worldwide Places


Conversations with Connection Space-makers


Connection Journal


Found your way around our Connection Pathway? Ready to head somewhere else? Where do you want to bring in next?



We grow in response to each other, in ways both intentional and subconscious.
— Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman