Friendships From Afar: From Challenging to Friendly Challenges

March 25, 2020

It was only recently that we learned about “social distancing” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing, staying at least 6 feet away from others in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Introverts might not mind this so much, but us extroverts are having a difficult time. We miss hanging out with friends, working out in a group fitness class, joining others for happy hour. Now we have changed our social interactions to video chat or virtual social hour, Netflix parties, virtual workouts…etc. We are so eagerly trying to fill the social void and it can be so very challenging.

Turn the challenging social disconnection into friendly challenges among your loved ones. Create a group chat and come up with daily or weekly fitness challenges. Tag your friends on Instagram Story to do 10 pushups, and tag 10 people to reciprocate. Link up your smartwatches and challenge each other to the most steps per week. Commit to group (virtual) workouts. Tell your friends about the upcoming live social media fitness classes you plan on taking. A friendly competition creates motivation and accountability. Check in with each other frequently. Ask how they’re doing. Remind them about the classes.

Don’t forget to also share healthy recipes with each other. Maybe you stocked up your fridge and pantry to avoid having to go to the grocery store during this pandemic. Ask your friends and family for recipe ideas using the ingredients you currently have. Use this time to learn new recipes, and even video chat with a friend to cook together virtually.

Maintaining friendships and creating fun engaging ways to connect right now is so important. Keep your friends moving and your friendships alive and in high spirits. At a time like this, we could all use a good support team to keep our spirits high and build each other up. Don’t forget, this is temporary, we will all be back mingling and laughing together, in person.