Instant New York Times Bestseller!
The book we need NOW to avoid a social recession, Murthy's prescient
message is about the importance of human connection, the hidden
impact of loneliness on our health, and the social power of community.
Humans are social creatures: In this simple and obvious fact lies both
the problem and the solution to the current crisis of loneliness. In his
groundbreaking book, the 19th surgeon general of the United States Dr.
Vivek Murthy makes a case for loneliness as a public health concern: a
root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world
today from alcohol and drug addiction to violence to depression and
anxiety. Loneliness, he argues, is affecting not only our health, but
also how our children experience school, how we perform in the
workplace, and the sense of division and polarization in our society.
But, at the center of our loneliness is our innate desire to connect. We
have evolved to participate in community, to forge lasting bonds with
others, to help one another, and to share life experiences. We are,
simply, better together.
The lessons in Together have immediate relevance and application.
These four key strategies will help us not only to weather this crisis,
but also to heal our social world far into the future.
- Spend time each day with those you love. Devote at least 15
minutes each day to connecting with those you most care about.
- Focus on each other. Forget about multitasking and give the
other person the gift of your full attention, making eye contact, if
possible, and genuinely listening.
- Embrace solitude. The first step toward building stronger
connections with others is to build a stronger connection with
oneself. Meditation, prayer, art, music, and time spent outdoors can
all be sources of solitary comfort and joy.
- Help and be helped. Service is a form of human connection that
reminds us of our value and purpose in life. Checking on a neighbor,
seeking advice, even just offering a smile to a stranger six feet
away, all can make us stronger.
During Murthy's tenure as Surgeon General and during the research for
Together, he found that there were few issues that elicited as much
enthusiastic interest from both very conservative and very liberal
members of Congress, from young and old people, or from urban and rural
residents alike. Loneliness was something so many people have known
themselves or have seen in the people around them. In the book, Murthy
also shares his own deeply personal experiences with the subject--from
struggling with loneliness in school, to the devastating loss of his
uncle who succumbed to his own loneliness, as well as the important
example of community and connection that his parents modeled. Simply,
it's a universal condition that affects all of us directly or through
the people we love--now more than ever.
