Creating An Amazing Support Network!

Hey everyone! It's Friday again! :)

Hope you're all having an amazing week! This has been an extremely busy week for me with school and everything, but next week is Spring Break so at least I should have a little more relaxation time then, so I'm very excited for that. This school year is flying by!!

This week, we will be talking all about how we can create a vibrant, positive support network that will be there for us throughout everything we need! As those of you who are familiar with my story know, one of the main reasons why I created the Best Feeling Ever Movement is to help as many people as possible be connected to a network of people that they know will be there to provide them with emotional support, friendship, uplifting energy, and just someone to talk to and share life with! Now, let's take a look at what we can do in our own lives to cultivate this same type of support, no matter who we are or where we go.

In my blog posts over the past couple of weeks, I have been talking about one of the most important parts of my story, which is how I have come to overcome the severe feelings of loneliness that have challenged me every since my early high school years. This loneliness stemmed from a few different sources, and I consider it a big part of it to have come from the fact that I never really was part of a close, supportive network of friends, or a "friend group", before high school. Granted, up until this point, I never really felt the need or desire to. I was perfectly content with just hanging out with my few best buddies, and that was enough for me, but I was never really hanging out in groups. And when in high school I started to desire this, it was not easy for me to fit right into any of the established "friend circles" at my high school that had developed years prior. I couldn't just change others' perception of me overnight.

Fortunately, in the later parts of high school, I did manage to hang out with more friends and spend more time in groups, and these people have become some of my closest friends ever. I am so grateful for them, and we of course keep in touch. None of them, unfortunately, go to my college, so it's hard to see them except during breaks. In college, however, I am thankful to say that I have found a lot of great new friends to hang out with, and we have had lots of fun together over the past four years.

So, you might be thinking that it seems like I am part of some very supportive groups of friends and wondering what I really have to worry about. Well, the thing is, I've never really felt fully content in any of these groups if I'm being honest. I've just never felt fully "connected" or "at home", which are the feelings that I've really been trying to chase all along. I've never felt that I fully "fit in". I don't mean that it's because the people I've been hanging out aren't awesome -- they certainly are AMAZING, and I love each of them very very much. I've been pondering for awhile why this sense of disconnection still persists, and I've been coming to the realization that it's simply because I want to be friends with as many people in this world as possible.

I may never feel fully satisfied in any "friend group" because I'll always be interested in hanging out with other people and seeing the way they live their lives. This, again, has nothing to do with me not feeling totally loved or supported by the people that I am around. It's just because I can't really see myself as "fitting in" to any particular type of group. And I've been realizing that maybe I was never meant to fully fit in to any tight-knit circles of friends. I have a wide variety of eclectic interests, but above all, I am interested in getting to know other people and their stories. Other people from ALL walks of life, from all backgrounds, from all places and circumstances. Those of you who know my story know that I have always been like this from a very young age, and I am now starting to realize how this has really shaped me into the person I am today. And I am learning to fall in love with that.

I am becoming more accepting of who I am as a person, and finding peace with the fact that I may not be fully satisfied by being part of any "group" of friends the way I once thought I would be. But that still leaves one major question to be solved - what is someone like me to do in order to feel connected to a supportive network of people? Of course, I have many amazing friends in many places, and I know that they'll always be there for me. But still, that's not quite the same as having a group to hang out with, to turn to in times of need and support, to know that they will be there for you no matter what. Where can I finally find this sense of connection, and help others do the same?

I truly believe that the answer to that lies in one of the core functions of the Best Feeling Ever Movement. As you probably know, one of the main goals of this Movement is to help all different kinds of people, from all different places and backgrounds, to connect with one another and be part of that kind of positive support network. My goal is to first help those who are interested to connect with one another through our online platforms, such as the new Best Feeling Ever Discord chat as well as our existing GroupMe chat! Of course, this includes all of the great friends I have made throughout my life, and over the past year it has been an awesome experience helping them to connect with one another and form lots of great new bonds! :)

Eventually, and by that I mean in the coming months, my goal is to begin running group outings for Best Feeling Ever. These will be open to anyone and everyone who is interested in participating, and all will be welcomed! Really the goal of these will to simply be to get us all together so that we can have fun and bond and form a more integrated, close, loving support network for one another. But the most important thing to remember is that no matter how close-knit we get, ANYONE is still welcome to join us and become part of the group!

And I truly believe this will help a lot of people who have felt the way I have throughout high school and/or college, or just anyone who needs a bit more connection in their lives. It will be the ULTIMATE friend group, for anyone and everyone, because we are all human beings here and I honestly believe that that is ENOUGH for us to be able to bond with one another and share a deep sense of love and unity that can help us all feel a new sense of fulfillment! :) <3

These are truly exciting times, and I can't wait to see where this goes from here! As always, please let me know if you are interested in getting involved with this, I would love to have you onboard! Also, please tell me, what do you to do connect with your support network? Who do you know will always be there for you no matter what? How do you help these relationships grow while also forming new ones? How do you help people from all different backgrounds to connect with one another? Please share your stories, I can't wait to hear them!!

And of course, please be sure to use our BRAND-NEW Best Feeling Ever Connections form to share what you are doing to connect with others and to live your Best Life Ever!! Here's where you can do just that: http://bestfeelingever.com/connections !! Speaking of which, stay tuned for a BONUS blog post, probably coming sometime next week, where I will talk about these Connections and what you can do to share them!! :)

Alright everyone, I hope you are all having a beautiful and incredible week! Keep being the amazing humans you are and keep shining bright!! As always reach out to me with anything you'd like to share or to just say hi!! Always be kind to yourselves and to others. Sending infinite love and hugs to you all!!!! :) <3

Your friend forever,

Adam Silverstein :)