Hello and welcome to the Mindful Kind podcast.

I'm your host, Rachel Cable, author of the Mindful Kind book, Mindfulness Teacher and blogger at RachelCable.com.

Each week this podcast will bring meaningful tips, tools and strategies so you can manage stress and live more mindfully in the modern world.

Hello and welcome to episode 265 of the Mindful Kind podcast. In this episode I'll be sharing a

five-day social well-being challenge to help you improve your social well-being, which is a

surprisingly crucial part of your overall health. Social well-being, which is a surprisingly crucial part of your overall

health. Social well-being is all about being able to make and maintain meaningful relationships

and interacting with a range of people, including friends, family members, colleagues,

neighbors, and other people within your community. The funny thing is I

didn't used to think social well-being was that important. I grew up spending a lot of time alone as I was

both shy and introverted. I enjoyed spending time by myself reading books or learning or journaling in the garden,

and I had some tough experiences with friends during my childhood, which made it really tough

for me to trust anyone.

Even as I became a teenager, I didn't particularly enjoy spending time with friends.

I was always worried about saying the wrong things and being judged and making

mistakes, and so I learned to keep to myself a lot. During lunchtimes, I often went to the music

room to practice piano or to the studio to dance. I was lonely and I wanted real friendships,

but I was also too afraid to go outside of my comfort

zone and make real connections with people.

It wasn't until I was 18 years old that I started to enjoy being around others and felt confident enough to start making some new friends,

but by then I was close to finishing high school. Soon after, I moved to the city

four hours away from my hometown to study psychology at university and I started all over again

...