Today’s edition of the newsletter is going to start out on a morbid note, but hang with me.

I want you to imagine you are attending a funeral. But not just any funeral—your funeral. 

People are streaming in, crying, hugging, and consoling each other. Then everyone sits down and we arrive at a key question: 

Who’s sitting in the front row?

These people—our “Front-Row People”—are the ones we should be paying close attention to today, when it’s not yet our funeral.

But are we?

Sahil Bloom put this question on my radar in his latest book, The Five Types of Wealth. More specifically, he invites us to reflect on the following:

1. What are you doing to cherish the people who hold these special seats in your world?

2. How are you letting those people know what they mean to you?

3. Are you prioritizing time with them or letting it float by and disappear?

These sorts of questions are more timely than ever, because we are in the midst of what many are calling a “friendship recession.” According to research:

• Loneliness among young adults has increased every year since 1976. 

• Only 39 percent of US adults report feeling “very connected” to others. 

• 15 percent of men report they have zero close friendships. 

Simultaneously, research continues to affirm the huge benefits of healthy relationships. Consider the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which began in 1938 and continues to the present day. The biggest takeaway from 80+ years of research on health and happiness? Relationships are everything. 

Specifically, the study found:

• Strong, healthy relationships are the best predictor of life satisfaction, well ahead of other factors such as wealth, class, fame, IQ, or genetics.

• The single greatest predictor of physical health at age eighty was relational satisfaction at age 50. 

• Loneliness was found to be worse for one’s health than regular use of tobacco or alcohol.

I guess this is a long way of reminding myself of something I already wrote about in a previous newsletter. I’m sharing it again just in case someone else out there needed a reminder, as well. 

Having already offered a few reflection questions, I’ll close with a twofold challenge:

1. Forward this email to a “Front-Row Person” in your life.

2. Schedule a time to connect with this person. 

Thoughts from fellow travelers

As always, I appreciated the feedback on last week’s newsletter. One of the common themes was people wrestling with how to think about relational authenticity in situations where the relational pursuit is inherently more obligatory in nature, whether that be in business or in a professional ministry/service context. No easy answers there. But still, I don’t think it hurts to periodically reevaluate our motives when it comes to all of the relationships in our lives. 

Carry on fellow travelers, we’ll talk soon!