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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to invite people to share meals with you.
You have to eat, so you may as well use the opportunity to connect.
An essay in the most recent World Happiness Report claimed that sharing meals with others is related to subjective well-being and that people who share meals with others have higher levels of life satisfaction and positive effect.
But according to the essay, we're sharing meals with others less frequently than we used to.
The American Time Use Survey finds that one in four Americans reported eating all their meals alone the previous day, up 53 since 2003.
If people who eat together tend to be happier, and fewer Americans are eating together these days, no wonder a lot of people report being unhappy or disconnected.
Now, to be sure, it's not absolutely certain what direction that association goes.
Perhaps when people are unhappy, no one wants to eat with them.
And so it's not the shared meal that's causing happiness.
But it's also pretty easy to share meals with people.
And, given that you have to eat, you might use meals as an occasion to bring more people into your life regularly.
In most cases, you and they will be happy that you did.
For instance, maybe your elderly neighbor or the college student who rents the house next year might want to join your family for dinner some night.
It doesn't have to be a fancy dinner party.
My guess is that they would be absolutely fine with the same pasta you are feeding your kids.
Your work friend might be happy to stop by after work to have pizza with your family.
Your yoga buddy might like to stop by your house after class on Saturday for coffee and muffins.
Or you might build in something more regular.
I know some people who have potluck dinners on Sundays for friends that become a major source of joy in their lives.
Everyone brings a dish and has something fun to look forward to on Sunday evening, which wards off the Sunday scaries for a few more hours.
If you are on the receiving end of invitations, well, don't hesitate to accept.
Sure, there will be moments of awkwardness and you might have to suspend your healthy eating practices for a night, but the boost in connection and happiness may be worth it.
Even at work, you can regularly share meals with others.
If your office has a culture where some people eat together in the break room or cafeteria, try to join in.
Can I join you?
Works perfectly fine as an opening line.
Hopefully this is not the middle school cafeteria, where this would be an issue.
And if your office doesn't have that culture, you could try starting it.
This could be as simple as sending a Slack or Teams message saying you will be eating your lunch in 10 minutes in the break room and inviting colleagues to join you.
See who comes.
If you have a good conversation, you can do it again and have others join you the next time.
It will grow.
It will become a thing.
And work will start being a lot more fun.
We all have to eat and we need to connect.
So inviting other people to join you at the table can be a natural and meaningful way to take any day from great to awesome.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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