Why You Should Build Authentic Relationships with Others

Humans are social animals. This means that we need others to bond with, to tell our wishes, and to confess our fears. Try living isolated on a mountain, alone. You will fail because you need others to be around you.   That’s why you have family and friends, coworkers and foes. As a human, you need relationships with others. If you weren’t aware of this need, you should learn why you ought to build authentic relationships with others.   Here are a couple of sound reasons to build authentic relationships with other people.  1. They add meaning and purpose to your life. Relationships give you the opportunity to make a difference in another person’s life. This requires commitment, which helps you build true values that you can take with you for the rest of your life.   Meaningful relationships can take you away from the shallow values of today’s world and give you something to fight for.   2. Relationships boost creativity. Yes, better relationships make you more creative. How? By building the environment to observe how others see the world.   You now have the opportunity of challenging your beliefs and assumptions about the world. What does this require? Creativity to make sense of the world around you, given new information from the people with whom you knit meaningful relationships.   3. Relationships help challenge assumptions about the world. When someone that you respect or care for has a different opinion than you have, this creates a cognitive dissonance in your mind.   The situation will challenge you to look into your own assumptions about the world. This, in turn, will help you grow. Another important way in which relationships with others are beneficial to you!   4. They challenge defenses. Real, authentic relationships force you to be honest. Not only with the person in front of you, but also with yourself. This way, you can see yourself through the eyes of another person, and you will learn when your defenses do not fool people.   5. Good relationships will help you stop self-destructive behaviors. When you think of a loved one, and you actually care about that person, you can find enough motivation to stop doing harmful behaviors.   How many mothers have quit smoking because they were pregnant? How many family interventions have stopped someone from taking drugs? Enough to know that a real, healthy relationship with someone can make a difference.   6. It tells you that you belong. Having healthy, authentic relationships echoes your belonging to a group. This is one of the most primal desires of humans, dating back to the prehistoric age. We have evolved to live in small communities. If you cannot do that right now—and probably aren’t interested in doing it—you can still recreate that human feeling by having authentic relationships with others even in cities with millions of people.   Last but not least ...   Authentic relationships are a vital source of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that can help you lead a happy life. How? Studies have concluded that people who do not have a network of relationships with others tend to abuse harmful substances.   If you do not have authentic relationships with others, you are more likely to abuse caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or even some of the more harmful, illegal substances.  Caring, meaningful relationships help you stay on the right path, away from those environments and substances that often bring pain and misery.   In other words, authentic relationships will offer you a more fulfilling life.