Year of Yes?

If the invites aren't pouring in, you're not alone.

Over 60% of Americans are lonely.

When I was nine, I spent a year walking the recess field in determined lines. I’d pretend I was hurrying across to meet my friend group. They were (walk, pivot) right over (walk, pivot) there...until the bell rang. I did this to hide the fact that I had no friends. It worked. It also ensured I didn’t make any.

Loneliness is insidious in that it’s self-perpetuating. It causes shame. Shame causes isolation. Isolation causes loneliness.

In her best-selling book “Year of Yes,” Shonda Rhimes details the year she stopped hiding and started saying “yes” to invitations. Her life, and STARmeter, shot up. At the start of 2024, you’ve probably seen a few “year of yes'' posts. A year ago, your LinkedIn contact from that conference boldly named 2023 her year of yes. Now, she’s sharing a motivational photo dump: boat parties, multiple promotions, too many safaris to mention (once you’ve seen one lioness give birth, you’ve seen them all). All with an incredible crew of lifelong friends. They hadn’t minded waiting for her, e-vites in hand, for the past decade. She’s now imploring you to make 2024 your year of yes.

But what if your year of yes finds you with less to say “yes” to? You’d be like a lot of us. A 2021 study from the American Perspectives Survey found 12% of Americans have no friends, up by 3% from 1990. We can have fulfilling connections at work and with family, and if our friendship circle is lacking, we still experience the negative consequences of loneliness.

Maybe instead of a year of yes, you need a moment of honesty about how your friendship circle is feeling. A moment to pause in the middle of the proverbial recess field and make yourself open to friendship. Or, if her post sold you on your year of yes, here's an invite you literally can’t say no to.

This Wednesday, you're invited to Next Level Leadership's free community training, Friends at Work.

Why Friends at Work?

If you identify as a woman, consider that having friends at work is perhaps the most feminist thing you can do! The modern workplace has always been a place where men have had friends. That (insert male bonding) outing where everything actually happens? It’s fun.

If you identify as a man, befriending women at work is a powerful act of inclusion.

And, if you’re great at having friends at work, we need you! We want to hear how you do it and what it’s brought you.

Details:? Success Circles Mixer, Friends at Work Jan. 31st, 2024, 9 a.m.–12 p.m. E.T, Zoom

9:00-10:15 a.m.: Community training

10:30-12 p.m.: Success Circlers can choose to stay for a session with a new circle Invite someone you want to deepen a friendship with.

Featuring special guests Anca Rizescu, MBA, Global Head of Oncology Project Leadership at AstraZeneca and Judy Francolini, NLL executive coach and founding Success Circle member.

RSVP: [email protected]

Zoom:? https://lnkd.in/gKqj-Ur

Learn about our new Success Circles membership program @ www.the-next-level.com/sc2024

#friendsatwork #successcircles #peercoaching