Everyday Connections

In our daily lives, we often interact with people in a service capacity – baristas, hair stylists, receptionists, or therapists – to name a few. We might not think much of these interactions at the start, but over time they can blossom into meaningful relationships.

Friendly interactions with those in service roles are loose connections that can boost one’s wellbeing, as I wrote about in an earlier blog post. And what starts as a casual acquaintance can lead to deeper connections. A barista remembers your favorite drink, a hairdresser remembers you recently moved, and commiserates over home improvements, and a security guard greets you with a smile every morning. These small, shared moments accumulate, leading to deeper conversations about life’s ups and downs.

These exchanges can also foster a sense of connection and belonging.  Canadian psychologist Gillian Sandstrom shared with NPR in 2023 that her daily exchange of smiles with the campus ‘hotdog lady’ gave her a small sense of belonging as a new graduate student when, “I didn’t instantly feel like a part of that community.” The power of these weak social ties is something that, according to the interview with NPR, “inspired Sandstrom to design a study that looks at the benefits of social connections — encounters, even brief ones, with strangers, acquaintances and anyone outside our close circle of family, friends and colleagues.”

When life gets busy with work and family obligations, these informal social connections enrich our lives by helping us feel more connected to one another.

People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.

Khaled Hosseini