Balancing Personal and Social Life: The Key to Happiness

What Are They ?

 

Relationships play a very essential role in human lives. We, as humans, craft bonds between ourselves and the outside world. It’s an inevitable instinct that we, as a species, crave. We yearn for it just as much as our needs for food, shelter, and reproduction. It is embedded very very deep in the brain. These bonds can be divided into 2 categories : personal life and social life.

How do you define “Social Life” ? Here at MKS Development, we strongly believe that social life refers to the aspects of our very existence that are public, communal, and interpersonal. Here is where friends, work, culture, and society comes from.

“Personal Life”, on the other hand, is the existences that are private, intimate, and personal such as family, hobbies, emotions, and health.

 

Both aspects of life can be linked to our evolution of a species. They are both linked to our desire to belong in our own pack for safety and reproduction. Both personal life and social life are important for our well-being, however, finding the right balance between the two can be very very challenging, even more so in our fast-paced and connected world. In this article, we will discuss the benefits and challenges of having a balanced social life and how it can affect our mental and physical health, our communication skills, our sense of belonging, and our happiness.

 

The Benefits

 

What are the benefits of having a good social life ? It’s not only enjoyable, but also beneficial to our physical and mental well-being which leads to the following :

  • Longer lifespan : People with more social support tend to live longer than those who are more isolated and this is true even when taken into account the overall level of health. In fact, a study of elderly people in Japan found that those who had frequent contact with their friends and neighbors had a lower mortality rate than those who had less contact.

  • Better physical health : Social engagement is associated with a stronger immune system. Socializing also lowers your blood pressure and reduces your risk of cardiovascular issues.

  • Better mental health : Interacting with others boosts feelings of well-being and decreases feelings of depression and loneliness. Socializing also enhances your cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and reasoning skills.

  • Better communication skills : Socializing can help you develop and maintain your language abilities as well as non verbal cues, such as eye contact, facial expressions, and body language. These skills can help you communicate more effectively and build rapport with others. A study of children found that those with more interaction with their peers had better language skills and social competence than their less interactive counterparts.

  • Better sense of belonging : Socializing can help you feel connected to a larger community such as your friends, family, neighborhood, or culture. This gives you a sense of identity, purpose, and meaning in life.

 

From our deep dive above, we can now deduce that social life can enrich one’s life in many ways. However, socializing can also pose some known challenges. With that in mind, social life is intertwined deeply with your personal life. A good start to social life can sometimes begin with a good personal life and vice versa. Let’s explore.

 

As we discussed above, having a good personal life is essential in addition to good social life. Research has shown that taking care our personal life can provide a number of advantages including but not limited to :

  • Better self-esteem : Research shows a group of college students who had higher self-esteem reported higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness. Having a good personal life means respecting and valuing yourself as well as your needs and preferences. This boosts your self-confidence and self-worth and makes you feel more comfortable and authentic in your own body.

  • Better coping skills : Those with a good personal life deal with stress better than those without. This means that the person develops and maintains healthy habits and lets the person become more resilient to problems that inevitably arise in their daily life. Healthy habits like staying physically active, eating healthy food, meditating, and journaling help reduce anxiety and depression.

  • Better relationships : Having a good personal life means nurturing your relationships with loved ones and those around you. This enhances your sense of belonging and purpose which further amplifies the effect achieved via having a good social life. This is one of the many reasons why the 2 aspects exist together in harmony.

 

Our Conclusion

 

From our discussion above, we can conclude that balancing social life and personal life can be tricky. While we won’t delve into the negative because  we would prefer to keep our blog positive with the use of Positive Mental Attitude, lack of one aspect can be detrimental to your physical and mental health. Balancing the two requires different skills and strategies to maintain and enhance.

 

To summarize, personal life involves respecting and valuing oneself as well as one’s needs and preference and being able to come to terms with it. Hobbies, health, and emotions improves personal life. On the other hand, social life involves interacting and connecting with others as well as your community and society. Joining social groups, volunteering, making new friends even during your retirement age will enhance your social life greatly.

 

We hope this article has helped you gain a better understanding of yourself and others and how to make the most of your life. Keep in mind that there is no wrong way to live your life, only the unhealthy ways. You have the power to choose what makes you feel happy. If you are interested, we invite you to join us and our community at MKS. We are a group of developers who aim to establish and enrich a close-knit community of investors and retirees who value comfort, convenience, and connection with the facilities that we are developing. You can also connect with like-minded people who share your values and interests, and who can support you in your personal and social goals. Whether you are looking for a place to invest, retire, or simply relax, MKS has something for everyone. To learn more about MKS and how to join our community, please visit our webpage or contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

References

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/social-life

  • https://socialself.com/blog/improve-social-life/

  • https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/03/active-social-life

  • https://simplicable.com/society/social-challenges

  • https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-nutrition/healthy-lifestyle-benefits

  • https://www.verywellmind.com/why-it-s-important-to-have-high-self-esteem-5094127

  • https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/friendships/art-20044860

  • https://www.uaex.uada.edu/counties/garland/news/fcs/2015/Benefits-of-Social-Activity.aspx

  • https://socialself.com/blog/why-being-social-important/

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-mild-cognitive-impairment/201606/the-health-benefits-socializing

  • https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/theory-evolution/

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-it/202003/social-connection-boosts-health-even-when-youre-isolated

  • https://www.britannica.com/science/life/Evolution-and-the-history-of-life-on-Earth

  • https://humanorigins.si.edu/education/introduction-human-evolution

  • https://community.thriveglobal.com/definition-of-social-life-what-it-is-meaning-and-concept/

  • https://research.ncl.ac.uk/balancingyourstudies/sociallife/