Listen To This | How & Why You Need To Talk To Strangers
A Podcast Rec for Friday January 10
Welcome to Listen To This, a new section within Welcome Wanderer. Each day I send out one of my favorite podcast episodes or audiobooks that moved me, challenged me, or simply made life a little brighter.
Podcast of the day: Plain English with Derek Thompson | ‘The Anti-Social Century’: America’s Epidemic of Solitude- and How To Fix It | Jan 10 2025 | 1 hr 10 min
Why To Listen:
This interview with psychologist Nick Epley makes me so happy! It’s all about building social fitness in our lives, our need for engaged, face-to-face connection and how much simple conversations throughout our day with the people around us can make our lives so much richer and more colorful, and it’s based on some fun, research-backed studies!Favorite quote:
“The choice to reach out and approach somebody or to avoid somebody. And these can be little things. You’re walking down the sidewalk. I can walk down the sidewalk in one of two ways. I can say hi and smile at the people coming by or I can keep to myself and look to the ground. There’s no skin off my back if I do one or the other. It’s easier to keep to yourself, but the block will better if you smile and say hello to people.”
“The barrier was- they didn’t think other people wanted to talk to them. They didn’t think that if they reached out to engage with this person who is sitting next to them not talking to them, they thought that that person is less interested in talking to me than I am in talking to them. They were pessimistic about how this person would respond. And notice, if everybody on this train has just a little bit of that…what percentage of people are going to reach out and talk?
ZERO is the answer.”
Wanderer Thought:
“I wonder who I will meet along my path today, I’m so curious about the interesting stories I could unearth and the conversations I could have with people.”Related Recommendation:
Article: Why Strangers Are Good For Us by David Sax (NYT article, but it’s free to read for you my friend!)
“Far from random human inconveniences, strangers are actually one of the richest and most important resources we have. They connect us to the community, teach us empathy, build civility and are full of surprise and potentially wonder.”
(Read that again slowly!)
I’ll be back tomorrow with one more nourishing treat for your ears! Then, on Sunday you’ll get the full podcast potion.
-Charissa
PS: I hope you enjoy this new experiment and that you look forward to a little note from me every day in your inbox!