Relationships are everything. From your mail carrier to your boss, relationships can make your life easier or make your life hell. Relationships fall under your social wellbeing. Your social prowess or lack-thereof often drives how successful you are in life. I define social wellbeing as having a quality circle of friends, getting along with people and being happy with those in your life. It’s a feeling of connectedness and the enjoyment of others. It’s not about KNOWING people, it’s about LIKING people…and them liking you!

I don’t believe everyone needs to be gregarious and loud, far from it. There are plenty of shy, quiet people who have full, satisfying relationships and a healthy social wellbeing. They just go about it differently. Quiet power and a good sense of self is just as important as a good sense of humor!

That, however, isn’t me! I’ve been told I’m a tad extroverted (understatement of the year) and love to meet new people. But it’s not the meeting new people that bodes well for your social happiness. It’s about having relationships that last and true respect for each other. Quality beats quantity every time. I know buckets of people, but few are considered true friends. Think about how many people you know. Who would you be able to call if you needed a shoulder to cry on? Would any fly across the country to help you in a pinch? Or introduce you to people who might help you in business without you asking? Would YOU do that for THEM?

I had the opportunity to do that very thing recently. I always talk about my friends to one another. Because of this, my friend, Paola, a powerhouse VIP at LiveNation in Canada, wanted to meet Donna, one of the owners of nCompass International, one of the top marketing and branding companies out there. Paola was one of my first clients here in Los Angeles and she became a good friend, as well. Donna is a dear friend from college. Both fantastic women are involved with music, in one form or another (among other things). The other common thread? Me. Because I love Donna, Paola knew she would, as well. And Donna, when I told her about Paola said (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you know her and like her, I’m in!”

We all got together for dinner and had a blast. Turns out they know tons of people in common and might even do business together! This made me incredibly happy and not only fed my social wellbeing, but my emotional wellbeing. Seeing two people you like and admire like each other is very rewarding!

When Paola came to town a few weeks ago, we all grabbed lunch and caught up. Donna and Donnie (her husband) were both there and the three of them talked business, events and industry stuff. I had no idea about any of it. But it didn’t matter. I was with friends…who would fly across the country to help me if I needed them.