The Power of Connection

By:
Gabriela Elena Blaga
December 1, 2018

I, strongly, believe in the vibrant energy that ”real” connection brings to us. The sense of social connection is one of our fundamental human needs.

The well-known researcher and professor - Brene Brown - says: ”It became clear that face-to-face connection is imperative. Not only did face-to-face contact emerge as essential from the participant data in my research, but studies across the world confirm those findings. Social media are helpful in cultivating connection only to the extent that they’re used to create real community where there is structure, purpose and meaning, and some face-to-face contact. Social media are great for developing community, but for true belonging, real connection and real empathy require meeting real people in a real space in real time.”

Moreover, according to Matthew Lieberman, author of the book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, “Being socially connected is our brain’s lifelong passion. It’s been baked into our operating system for tens of millions of years.”

Below, some key benefits of social connection:

  • strengthens our immune system
  • helps us recover from disease faster
  • lengthen our life
  • lower rates of anxiety and depression
  • increases self-esteem, empathy, trust, cooperation.

Recently, I started my journey as a freelancer entrepreneur and the need for face-to-face connection made me look for a place from where to work, at least some days during the month. Luckily, the coworking industry started to blossom in Romania as well, and especially in Bucharest.

The coworking spaces bring benefits, such as:

  • structure
  • effectiveness
  • avoiding loneliness
  • networking
  • flexibility

As said, Bucharest offer in terms of coworking places is quite good.

For me, it was easy to decide because almost one year ago I met the Commoners :). At that time Commons team was the one offering me their event space for two workshops organized for the NGO I manage. Our relationship developed over time, hence no wonder that I chose Commons as my ”to be office”.

I will be back with news after spending some days there. I know the coffee is tasty, there are some comfy sofas, a chimney perfect for winter time, lounge music, yoga classes and more :)