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Last week, we started a new community experience: The Empty Nest Lab Club! SOCIAL CONNECTION = LONGEVITYResearch has shown that social connection matters for our health. A large meta-analysis by researchers found that people with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival during the study periods. Researchers have compared the effect to established health factors such as smoking 15 cigarettes per day!! That’s a crazy reminder of how much connection matters. Social connection = Longevity. And honestly, it makes sense. Smiling, laughing with friends, meeting interesting new people, and engaging our minds, bodies, and souls can make us feel happier and more alive. The research just gives us another reason to make time for it. To all my empty-nester, 50-something peeps who gave up smoking back in the day: don’t go becoming antisocial now! When our kids were home, it was easy to have a built-in social calendar. We had sidelines to chat on, back-to-school nights, pre-prom parties, theater productions, and plenty of chances to connect with other parents. Now that the kids have moved on, and many of us work from home, it’s easy to let that calendar lapse. INTRODUCING THE EMPTY NEST LAB CLUBThat’s why I launched the Empty Nest Lab Club. We kicked off this monthly series with a pickleball event at Sportime. It honestly was a blast. Everyone told me how much fun they were having, and at one point someone jogged over to tell me, “This is exactly what the Empty Nest Lab is about, Mychal. I would have been on my couch, on my device, sitting separate from my wife and watching TV. Not engaging. Instead we are doing this and it is so much fun!” We welcomed partners to this one, but many events in the future will be geared toward women. A Mah Jong tournament (this is our November event, details below), seasonal floral design workshop, botanical cocktail class, private movie screenings, knitting/crochet lessons and more are in the works. I’d love to hear your ideas, too! The idea is simple: get out of the house, see friends, make new ones, try something new, maybe pick up a hobby, and give yourself something fun to explore and talk about with your partner or friends. And if stronger social connections are good for us, that’s one more reason to say yes. What could be better? Listen, I get it, it’s hard to get off the couch, especially since Daylight Savings was yesterday. (Tbh, I am happy I snuck the first event in just before we changed the clocks.) But let this newsletter serve as a push to JUST DO IT! Remember, social connection is good for our health! We can’t rot inside by ourselves all winter. So even when it feels nearly impossible to get our asses off the couch after sundown this season, I hope you’ll push yourself and join me. NOVEMBER EVENT: MAH JONG TOURNAMENTOur next event will be at Maison Fête in Bedford Village. Mah Jong Tournament
November 17, 4:45pm–6:45pm
Maison Fête, Bedford Village
$50/person includes snacks and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages Space is limited, so please RSVP to emptynestlabcoach@gmail.com as soon as you can to secure your spot. I will send you Venmo link for payment. (Sorry, no beginners at this one, but if you want MJ lessons, I have some suggestions for you for local venues that are hosting them.)
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