We need to be connected.
My daughter is home from her first year of college … she has been home about four days and she says repeatedly, "I miss my people."
My son has left for a week-long camp. It's rare for him to be gone from home and I feel his absence.
As I think of my various friends, each has a rhythm of their connection with me – for some, it is weekly, for others semi-annually, and everything in between. When their particular interval is stretched, I feel it and I miss them.
Connection is like an appetite. When I have the right amount with the right people, I feel satiated. When it is not enough, I become hungry.
Part of living deliberately is knowing your connection needs and taking responsibility for them – it is not the other person's job to know when you need to be filled.
This is your task: To know yourself well, to invite others onto your path and to give them grace if they can't meet you where you are at the moment.