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IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS are very important in our life. What is less well known is that it is also essential for being healthy. A study over several decades has recently shown that social relationships are the No. 1 factor of happiness in a person's life.
Having toxic relationships with people who poison us stimulates cortisol, the stress hormone, which causes fat storage, state of permanent stress, insomnia, and many more The excess cortisol is a real poison and it is the element that characterizes our modern lifestyle stress.
It is important to sort out our relationships, because as a human being, we evolve and it is quite normal that most of our dating changes with advancing age. The people we were hanging out with in adolescence do not necessarily correspond to our way of thinking as we grow older.
I do not say either that you should cut yourself off from all those who do not think like you, but keep in mind that it is useless to maintain relations with people with whom you have nothing in common anymore and with the key a toxic relationship that brings you nothing fulfilling!
Then sorting is not the only thing to do. The relationships you have with people are like a wood fire: it must be maintained to prevent it from going out. It is therefore essential to bring logs in all your relationships to maintain your network, including casual people!
The power of your network depends on people close to you. You must connect more and more with these people and listen to them. Develop active listening: listen more than you talk. Be really interested in what your interlocutor is saying. Do not try to speak about yourself, to outbid or to be right. That is the habit of the proud, of those who want to flaunt their influence.
To make friends, learn to really care about the other person, ask questions and really be curious about the answer.
Developing your communication skills is the best skill you can develop to have healthy relationships with those around you. You may not know it, but most people communicate extremely poorly: they criticize, feel guilty, want to be right, outbid, talk excessively about their achievements and do not listen. I really see it on a daily basis, I rub shoulders with a lot of people.
Develop this quality and you will stand out widely. You will have much less conflict and that is having less stress. You will have much more harmonious relations and you will be happier and healthier! It's worth it, right?
One last thing: when an argument is triggered, do not try to be right or contradict, accept your mistakes, this is the best way to defuse the argument. Even if you're right, be the smartest and confess your faults to cut down the friction. You will soon see that this is the most useful strategy, and it shows great strength of character. You have to be humble to accept another person’s blame on you. But, hey! You have everything to gain!