Being Social Improves Overall Health
Did you ever wonder why after helping someone you’re left with a warm glow? There are psychological studies that show not only does doing good for others improve their day but it also boosts your own feeling of purpose.
A key skill that will help both your professional and personal lives is your ability to socially interact with others. To sum it up, your social intelligence dictates how people react to you. Some people are born with the gift of gab for making others feel instantly relaxed; for others, some fine-tuning of social skills is needed. Regardless of which applies to you, there’s no harm in reflecting on which skills are second nature and which ones you need to work on.
Follow Your Path
Naturally, people who excel in social skills are best suited to more social careers. Some of those professions include directly helping people on some level. Work that uses what you learned obtaining your DPT degree is one such field. Helping patients recover from injuries that affect their quality of life is an immensely rewarding feeling. Being comfortable enough to interact with your patients/clients will also improve how they perceive your quality of care.
Room for Improvement
As with anything in life, there is always room for improvement if you put the effort into it. Stop and think about your own life. In a room full of people do you tend to try to blend into the background or are you in the middle of the laughter and fun?
People are drawn to those who ooze confidence and have inviting body language. You’re less likely to initiate a conversation with someone who looks uncomfortable in their own skin or is positioned with their arms crossed. In fact, a lack of social interactions has a negative effect on your mental health, promoting feelings of depression and loneliness.
If you struggle with talking to people you don’t know, rather than excluding yourself from the conversation, set small goals to chime in rather than keeping your thoughts to yourself. You can work on improving those skills by starting small conversations with people in the same line as you. With time, it will become easier to speak in general.
Support Network
Human beings are social animals. It’s unnatural and unhealthy to be so withdrawn that you deprive yourself of a social network. Studies have shown that people who have close relationships have a strong support network, healthy communications skills and better interpersonal and professional relationships. Not only that, they are also healthier overall. Being healthy is not a matter of just diet and exercise, mental health can also affect your overall well-being; either positively or negatively. In fact, people who don’t have the best eating habits or physical activity are still healthier than those that lack close social ties.
Regulating Emotions
In daily life, sometimes things happen that are (emotionally) heavier than you can carry alone. Just like when something amazing happens and you can’t wait to tell your friends and family, once in a while, you need an understanding ear to help you with whatever is upsetting you.
Being a good friend during stressful times is how you help people regulate their feelings. The best way to do that is by listening with an empathetic ear and offering alternate perspectives. Not only does it help your stressed-out friend, but it also helps you to regulate your own emotions.
Regardless of your career, personality or social interactions, if there is anything you want to change or improve, it just takes a bit of time and dedication.
