Have you checked in?

One, with yourself.

Two, with those around you.

Both are equally important.

You know, loneliness is an epidemic right now.

And studies show that in the U.

S., one out of two Americans have experienced some form of loneliness in their life.

That's a staggering 50 percent of the population.

And that number is actually understated.

So it's important to check in with people.

Now you can't check in with everybody, but if you just made a conscious effort that once a day or once a week, you're going to check in with someone that's important to you.

And keep in mind not the people that you talk to all the time, you know, there's those people that you just end up talking to throughout the week.

For me, it's My husband, my sister, my parents, you know, those are people I see every day or every week.

But then there's other friends that maybe, maybe I talk to them weekly, bi weekly, then you have some friends that you talk to once a month, then you have some friends that you really only talk to once a year or twice a year, you can still check in with them even if they're not a part of your regular day to day routine.

Because we all need to care about each other and we all need that human connection.

And I'm sure everybody knows how good it feels when someone just messages you out the blue and says, Hey, I was thinking about you.

I hope you're okay.

For me, I have a student who checks in on me.

I would say maybe three times a year if I was to give it a guess.

And this was a student I taught in my very first year of teaching.

So it's been a long time and he still checks in on me.

And I remember sending him a message to my last message.

I said, thank you so much for even remembering me.

Like, I don't know how I come to your mind this many years after you've graduated and you still check on me.

And I appreciate that so much.

And I'm going to make a conscious effort to try to check on him next time before he checks on me.

But nonetheless, it's so good that he checks on me.

And so it's a reminder for you to check in on other people.

And even today, I decided to check in on a friend who I hadn't heard from for a while.

I remember saying, I sent a voice note to say, Hey, you know, thinking of you, hope everything is good.

And then they responded back with an emoji, heart.

And I said, huh, that friend usually would say more.

So then I decided to just, just go a little bit deeper and said, how, how are you doing?

And then, you know, that friend shared that they had kind of been going through a lot over the last month.

So sometimes taking that check in to the next level can really be a little bit more impactful.

Or maybe a lot more impactful, just depending on the situation, but not for much more effort.

And then, when you've checked in with others, also take the time to check in with yourself.

And for this one, I don't want you to just ask yourself, like, how are you feeling?

I really want you to, you know, Spend some time on this.

It could be in a journal, or it could just be a self assessment, but something on paper, so that we can confront what's in our head and see it in front of us.

And really sit down and go through different key areas of your life.

I do have a wellness assessment that is linked in the show notes so you can always download.

But I want you to think of the key areas of your life that impact your well being.

Just ask yourself, how are you doing in each of those areas?

And it doesn't matter what information comes back.

You might be at a ero or one out of ten.

That's okay.

It's just information so that you know where you might need to put some extra attention and effort to.

Or maybe you're great in all the areas and you don't need to put attention to anything.

But you won't know until you pause and do that intentional check in.

So check in with yourself, check in with others.

And until next time, continue to serve yourself, your loved ones, and your communities from a full cup.