We’ve probably all had THAT moment with someone, the one where we feel like we’ve known them our entire lives when it’s really only been a few days. Maybe you’ve had the pleasure of seeing someone in a whole new light even though you’ve known them for a while. Most often, these feelings are the result of having a unique shared experience together that has shaped your connection to one another. Complete strangers can become best friends seemingly overnight while long-term acquaintances can suddenly feel like family.
One of the reasons why shared experiences and common moments can have such a deep impact on our connection with one another is that they provide new opportunities for communication and understanding. Another reason is that these moments create a sense of belonging among people. Knowing that you’ve had the same experience makes people feel like they’re part of a special club, which makes it easier to relate to one another.
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Shaping Our Connections Through Shared Experiences and Common Moments
When you have shared experiences with another person or group of people, they are bound to make you feel closer to one another. This is really exciting! It opens up a whole new gateway of connection points for you and someone else. With a little cultivation, these connection points can turn into a meaningful friendship. Humans are social creatures who want to build their social networks. They also want to have the support of people close to them when going through tough times. With that in mind, it makes sense that shared experiences and common moments are very important ways to meet these needs.
Why are connections with other people important?
Put very simply, connections make us happier and healthier! The COVID pandemic showed many of us exactly how important it is to have human connection. You may have had access to your favorite gizmos and gadgets or ten different social media accounts. But nothing quite compares to connecting with other people. Studies show that people tend to thrive mentally, emotionally, and physically when they feel connected with the people around them. This could come from having a few close confidants or having a big group of friends and family that you rely on for support.
Yes, yes… we know some of the introverts out there may be rolling their eyes. After all, we’re talking about the importance of interpersonal relationships and how they impact your mind and body. We totally understand that some people see themselves as lone wolves who are happiest in their own company. It’s perfectly okay to have just one or two people whom you feel connected to. In this case, just think about what life would be like if you didn’t have your favorite people in it. Kind of sad, right?
What are shared experiences or common moments?
Shared experiences and common moments are any situations where people do something together or go through something together. They include both organic shared experiences that happened naturally and manufactured ones that were planned out. Although these experiences may come about in very different ways, the long-term impact of them is similar.
Organic shared experiences happen on their own based on normal interactions between people. These can range from fun activities like traveling through Europe with some people you met in a hostel to surviving a traumatic event together. Depending on the degree of the experience, you may form truly unique social connections with people you may not have with anyone else.
Meanwhile, manufactured experiences are specially designed to help bring people close together. They include activities like team-building sessions amongst employees of a company or sports teams attending a special camp together. In most of these cases, the desired takeaways are clear (at least to the people who have organized the experience).
Why are these shared experiences or common moments important?
Regardless of the type of shared experience you have, it can help make you feel closer to one another. Think of it this way. Imagine you made a new friend in a hostel in London and traveled together for the next few weeks. You worked together to figure out train schedules, laughed at the language barrier you faced in certain countries, and shared the same dismal hostel dorm room. You laughed together, were confused together, and were uncomfortable together. By the end of those few weeks, it likely felt like you had known this person forever. For years afterward, you catch up often and laugh about how much fun you had together.
Now, imagine if this was a traumatic or life-changing event. After it happens, you may feel a little isolated, almost as if you have no one else to talk to besides the other people who went through the same experience. The people who you went through the experience with may end up being the same ones who help you process and move on from it, even if they were complete strangers from the beginning.
In short, forming these kinds of connections through shared experiences is good for you. They might even help you dissolve biases and accept all kinds of situations and people in general.
How do you create shared experiences?
You can easily create shared experiences amongst people. However, this doesn’t always translate into deep connections. Manufactured experiences that lead to a greater understanding of one another need to be carefully cultivated in order to make the greatest impact on the people involved.
Let’s say you want to develop the relationships between a group of friends or coworkers. So you organize a fun team-building event at a local park to give everyone the chance to bond. Instead, people pair off or group up with the people they already feel closest to. By the end of the event, it doesn’t seem like much has happened in terms of relationship development. This may be because people didn’t have the chance or desire to interact with new people
Rather than relying on people to be responsible for manufacturing their own shared experiences, try to create a situation that fosters connectivity. Don’t be afraid to group people together even if they seem like they have little in common. Spending time with people of different ages, backgrounds, and professions is the perfect way to challenge people’s thinking and help people learn from one another.
If you’re struggling to come up with some ideas on how to do this, make sure to check out Let’s Roam’s activities! We’ve created tons of different activities that people can do together, whether you want a chill happy hour or a lively improv session! Each activity has been specially designed to help build connections between people while promoting teamwork, understanding, and communication.
Maximizing the Benefits of Shared Experiences and Common Moments
We know how important sharing experiences can be in terms of overall happiness. However, when everyone seems to be getting busier and busier, how do you find a way to incorporate these experiences into your daily life? It’s time to get a little creative!
Create opportunities for multitasking.
It always feels like there are never enough hours in a day to get everything you need done. Unfortunately, this means that relationships are often put on a lower priority than things like work, family duties, exercise, etc. As time goes by, this lack of relationships can end up having a negative impact on how we think and feel physically and mentally.
Instead of neglecting these relationships, focus on multitasking every chance you get. Exercise with a friend, commute to work with a neighbor, and schedule play dates with other parents. These are all great ways to spend time with other people without neglecting the things you need to do.
Be open with other people.
As kids, many of us used to tell our friends or siblings everything—and I mean everything. You would tell people about what happened at school, things that made you laugh or cry, and fun activities you did. As you got older, it’s likely that you stopped sharing so much with other people. Why not try being that open again?
When you share things about yourself with other people, it’s much easier to find something you have in common than if you keep everything private. You may find out that the woman from your gym class hates a particular exercise as much as you do or that a coworker loves to go hiking on the weekends at the same park you frequent. Sharing these types of things can quickly deepen your connection with one another, even if it’s just over something silly like hating doing planks!
Change your environment.
If you go to the same places and do the same things every day, it isn’t always likely that you’ll meet new people to connect with. However, if you change up your routine every so often, you may suddenly find yourself surrounded by a whole new group of people to bond with. From trying a new art class to joining a hiking group, you have additional opportunities to create meaningful experiences with other people all around you.
Closing Thoughts
We hope this article on the importance of shared experiences and common moments has inspired you to focus on the connections you have with other people. Shared experiences and common moments are important tools for bonding with other people. These bonds and connections can help you live your best life, so don’t be afraid to interact with other people and be open with them about your own experiences and feelings.
Even if you feel like you’re putting yourself out there initially, the feeling of inclusivity and sense of belonging that it can create is worth taking a risk for. At worst, you may find that other people aren’t receptive, but at best, you could develop a strong relationship with someone who can help shape your life in the future.
If you want to read more about managing relationships with friends, family, and coworkers, make sure to head over to our Connect blog. Here, you’ll find articles on everything from rekindling romance to keeping kids entertained after school. These articles were written by our team of relationship experts who have decades of experience in life and love!
Frequently Asked Questions
Shared experiences are experiences that people share together. This could mean that you experience something at the same time or that you experience it at different times and are able to bond over it.
Having shared experiences can help deepen the relationship you have with one another. This could be a result of both organic experiences and planned experiences, such as team-building sessions.
Since anything you experience with someone else can be considered a shared experience, you can create this experience simply by spending time with one another and being open.
Science has shown that having relationships and connections with other people makes us physically and mentally healthier. Connections are not only good for our minds but also good for our bodies!
Shared experiences can happen organically, or they can be organized. Team-building sessions, scavenger hunts, or scratch-off adventure books can all help facilitate connections between people.