We are living through an epidemic of loneliness and despair. Most people are deeply dissatisfied with dating dynamics.
Human relationships are about cooperation. Cooperation is the human super power. For example: go try to be a rugged individual in the jungles of the Amazon, and let me know how that goes. Communication is the engine of cooperation. If I can’t tell you want I need help with, it becomes very difficult to for you to help me. If I can’t alert the the tribe to the presence of a predator, then somebody is going to be food. If we can’t communicate, then we can’t cooperate, and if we can’t cooperate, then we are doomed. How can we cooperate? Let’s talk about how we want to help each other. Let’s talk about what we would like help with.
Romantic relationships are an opportunity to help the person you love most live with audacity, faith, and integrity. That relationship is also an opportunity to have the person who loves you most help you live with audacity, faith, and integrity. When you have a child, the love gets even bigger, and now the two of you can help the person you both love most live with audacity, faith, and integrity.
What is the mission you would happily devote your time and attention to every day? How about the Adventure of Your Life? Does that sound like something you want to do alone? Will there be times it would be better to have someone to lean on?
What is the loss that must be avoided at all costs? Wasted talent. Do you want to see the people you love waste their talent and live lives of regret, resentment, despair, and destruction?
What if you could be in a relationship where you say to each other “I believe in your talent, and I can’t wait to see who you become. How can I help you develop the skills you need to unleash your talent and live the Adventure of Your Life?”
We have the opportunity to set aside our differences and cooperate this way. We can devote our time and attention to helping each other live with audacity, faith, and integrity. We can help each other prevent the loss that must be avoided at all costs.
Right now, we are living through an epidemic of loneliness and despair. Can we stop talking about politics and religion long enough to pull ourselves out of it? Those are the topics that cause many people to become dogmatic in a way that prevents communication, which means it also prevents cooperation. (The irony of politics and religion preventing cooperation is a topic for another time.) For some, omitting politics and religion from polite conversation would be a huge sacrifice. Sacrifice means letting go of something meaningful so you can reach for what’s most meaningful. We can reach for an end to the epidemic of loneliness and despair. We can reach for cooperation. We can reach for the mission that we would happily devote our time and attention to every day. Can we sacrifice the opportunity to dunk on those who disagree with us for the opportunity to cooperate despite our differences?
When we communicate, we cooperate, and when we cooperate, people thrive. Do we want to cooperate? Do we want to stop being lonely and desperate? Do you want to live the Adventure of Your Life, and have a loving partner who has enough faith in your talent join your adventure in the spirit of cooperation and belonging? Do you want to help the person you love most find their faith in themself so they can live their adventure?