Our February word of the month was “connection.” Throuought the month of February our members reflected on what “connection” meant to them and how they practised it.
1. What does connection mean to you?
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Connection to me is any form of communication between other people and most importantly yourself. It allows you to explore your interests, passion, etc.
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Connection to me means finding alignment with yourself and other people/places/things through conversation and interaction.
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To me, connection is a way to show love for those you care about. Connection can be with yourself and those close to you.
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Connection to me is not only about connecting with others, but also connecting with myself and checking in to see how I’m feeling and what I need. I also prefer to connect on a deeper level versus small-talk. I feel like I get the most out of connections with people when we are open and understanding.
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Connection means the things I think that I can comfortably share with others around me, which changes based on who they are and what we have in common.
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Connection is about relationships. From personal relationships to relating ideas to one another, connection is how one can link two things together. I find that stories are a great way of connecting, and they show how people can relate through experiences and memory.
2. How has that changed becasue of COVID?
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I genuinely feel like my connections with my close friend/family circle hasn’t changed, but in terms of school, activities, and events, it definitely plays a huge role in narrowing down my connections with acquaintances and other people I interact with, especially transitioning into college.
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I definitely feel that it is harder to create new connections with people solely online. However, I’m glad I’m able to express myself though and stay in touch with those that I no longer see because of COVID.
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I used to see my friends a lot before COVID hit, and so I have had to learn to find a way to replace physically seeing them. Instead of being able to give them hugs, I have had to find different ways to show them that I am still thinking about them and that I care about them. I have baked for them, written letters, and bought them meaningful gifts to show my appreciation for them.
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My ability to connect with others has definitely changed and decreased because of COVID. I was a big extrovert before the pandemic and quarantine began, and now I struggle to connect with others because there aren’t great spaces to fully and continuously develop those connections I would make in-person. I have definitely relied on keeping in touch with friends and spaces I had pre-pandemic. However, making new connections is difficult online.
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Connection has been much more difficult since the beginning of COVID because I can no longer just go out and meet people in person whenever I want. I’m at home with my family for a majority of the time and I have to find ways to stay connected online. I am grateful to have my family around, but I definitely need time away from them every now and then. It takes a lot of energy to continually stay connected with people. Thanks to HCUWB, I have wonderful people who I connect with every week!
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I wasn’t always able to connect with other people in person before COVID, so being online has helped somewhat. It’s still hard for me to feel motivated to make the first step to communicate with others.
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For me, COVID hasn’t changed my ability to connect as most of my interactions with others were online before the pandemic. However, my program was severely impacted by the inability to see others in-person as my coursework partially revolves around working together, workshopping, and community.
3. How do you stay connected to those you love?
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I love to FaceTime my friends and family and host online activities. With the beginning of COVID, my grandma would stay with us due to how bad circumstances were. Even though she’s now infor Virginia, we still FaceTime and talk over the phone, which is a great way to stay in touch with a loved one and also remain true to my background (since I always speak in Bangla with my grandma). For friends, we always text or talk through the phone or on Discord as well as play online games like Scribbl.io or Among Us. It’s nice because we are still able to foster connection and have a good time while practicing social distancing. Also being involved in UWB clubs has helped with creating new connections and still being able to have that on campus community.
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I am fortunate to be connected with my family at all times since I live with them, but sometimes that can be too much. I struggle more with keeping touch with those who are not in my household, like friends. I try to make sure I check in with them, especially if we haven’t talked in a while. I also try to schedule time to see them in person (safely).
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I love to write letters to my friends. I’ve learned that I tend to be extremely vulnerable and open when writing letters, so this is a way I can also connect with myself. I have actually written letters to my future self during both low and high moments in my life. This is a great way for one to go back and revisit past experiences and feelings.
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I usually text my friends and we have eaten lunch together on Zoom where we would just eat and catch up.
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I stay connected with those I love through occasional FaceTime or Snapchat check-ins. Online games have been really great for bringing people together. I use the House Party app to video chat and play trivia and charades with groups of friends. Also, there is a Discord server with some of my close friends that I’m a part of that plays Among Us every night.
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To be honest, I don’t really stay connected with my friends. I mostly see my parents who visit every two weeks. I do more Zoom calls instead of phone calls, but even those are about as infrequent as they were before COVID. I think my big lack of connection is just not being able to see strangers (as weird as that sounds) in places like the supermarket or hardware store. I do make an effort to reach out more, but I think people are getting burned out on Zoom calls. I do find that it’s easier to spend more time with people at weird times since we can just call over the phone or Discord.