Life can be difficult, and it can be lonely. 

There are times where we imagine ourselves adrift and alone in a sea of people; people that we feel inherently separate from. 

Isolated. 

Disconnected. 

Surrounded by people but not belonging to or with them. 

We look down at our phones and see fake smiles and well-practised “candid” travel snaps, we read the highlights of people's lives and we see the social groups we are left out of and we see ourselves as an insignificant part in a random and chaotic world. In a world that seems full of disorder (and living with a brain that sometimes feels the same) it can be hard to understand where we fit in to each other's lives. 

But we are all of us connected; some of us by blood, by love, by friendship, work, shared interests, and some of us by actions that bore consequences we never considered. Our impact on this world is greater than we know and how we affect one another is more significant than we believe. Invisible threads snake their way through each of our lives, linking us together at the very core of our humanity. Like gravity, an unseen force pulling us together without ever being consciously felt. Things that don't seem linked are inexplicably connected, our actions rippling out in ways we don't always comprehend. 

I think of the night I didn't die by suicide at the age of 16, when my parents decided to surprise me with new bedroom flooring. In moving my furniture around they discovered evidence of my secret self harming, and in confronting me about it they stopped me from carrying out my plan. They thought they were doing a small act of kindness and DIY and instead inadvertently saved my life. 

We are constantly making choices, unaware of the significance of them, oblivious to the impact that reverberates through the lives of others. 

We are not solo instruments but part of an orchestra, all working towards momentous crescendo even if we never see the conductor, even if we are never aware that we are working collectively. If you ever doubt the simple yet profound connection we share, attend a live music event. Feel the collective adoration, the fans singing in unison, the freedom for an hour or two from the mundane lives as the crowd comes together, reaching towards their idols and screaming along to songs that are simultaneously personal and shared by all. Attend a football or a rugby game and hear the sighs of disappointment and the euphoric cries as the crowd breathes as one. Visit a friends and family and feel how their very existence shapes your life every day. 

Nothing in this world lacks connection, even when the world feels cold and lonely; connection is a force that surrounds us every day.