I loved my first grade teacher. Her name was Mrs. Gross but there was nothing gross (恶劣的) about her. She had such a sweet smile and kind way about her. I wasn’t sure what her age was at the time but she already looked very grand-motherly. She was soft spoken and had a very gentle sense of humor. Unlike some teachers she never shouted at or criticized her students. To me it felt like having a second grandmother as my teacher. Every day, I arrived at her classroom and sat happily at my desk with a big smile on my face. Throughout all my years of school I always remembered the times I spent in her classroom the most fondly.

One such memory is still with me to this day. We were doing math problems that were printed on the chalkboard while Mrs. Gross walked through the classroom checking on our work. I finished first and lifted my head up just as Mrs. Gross walked up behind me. She looked at my work and smiled. Then she said: “This is really good work, Joe. You are a very smart boy.” As she walked on she gently touched my shoulder and I got an exciting feeling in my heart. It felt so good to be seen. It felt so good to be appreciated. From that moment on I always tried my best. I always worked hard, I always wanted to be as smart as she thought I already was.

Would I have done as good in school or in life if I hadn’t had Mrs. Gross as my first grade teacher? I don’t think so. She awakened a desire in me to be the best person I could be. With her gentle love and encouragement I started down a wonderful path that I am sill on today, Mrs. Gross showed me just how much effect one soul can have on another.

I think it was October, 1982. A friend had business dealings in the city of Reno, Nevada, and I was asked to accompany her on an overnight trip. While she conducted her business, I was aimlessly wandering down Virginia Street, heading into a most gloriously beautiful sunset. I had an urge to speak to someone on the street to share that beauty, but I couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. Quickly I ducked into a department store and asked the lady behind the counter if she could come outside for just a minute. She looked at me as though I were from some other planet and said, “Well...” Surprisingly, she followed me out.

When she got outside I said to her, “Just look at that sunset! Nobody out here was looking at it and I just had to share it with someone.”

For a few seconds we just looked. Then I said, “All’s right with the world.” I thanked her for coming out to see it and sharing the beauty.

Four years later my situation had changed considerably. I had come to the end of a twenty- year marriage. I was alone and on my own for the first time in my life. One day, while my clothes were going around, I picked up a Unity Magazine and read an article about a woman who had been in similar circumstances. She had come to the end of a marriage, moved to a strange community, and the only job she could find was one she disliked: cosmetic sales in a department store. We had a lot in common.

Then something happened to her that changed everything. She said a woman came into her department store and asked her to step outside to look at a sunset. The stranger had said “All’s right with the world”, and she had realized the truth in that statement and that she simply had not been seeing it. From that moment on, she turned her life around.

I considered an active social life as basic human necessity. Yet when it dawned on me just how much time I was spending socializing, I realized I may be taking it to an extreme. I calculated that, on average, I was spending 22 hours or more each week on social activities. So, to see what would happen to my work output, health and wellbeing, I decided to try and cut out my social life entirely.

I knew, at times, I filled my schedule simply out of fear of missing out (FOMO), but also as a way to shift focus away from my work. For one month, I declined all in-person activities with friends: going out for drinks; dinners; parties and non-work related events, to see if it would make me more productive, improve my focus and career prospects.

On day one of the month-long experiment, I had to fight some anxiety over missing out. But as the days passed, I started to relax. I only had one option to consider for Saturday night—to stay home—and this limitation left me more satisfied in my decision. I felt more content working, reading or watching TV.

While I found more time to work, I also noticed a change in my overall health. I found myself cooking more at home, doing daily exercise, getting to bed earlier each night, reading, and enjoying moments of rest and boredom throughout the day.

Having no social life left me more free time than I’d imagine. Such idle moments are vital for creativity, and mind wandering has been linked to creative problem solving. During the experiment I found myself regularly brainstorming new ideas and reimagining existing projects.

Of course socializing is an important way to build work contacts. While one month of no social life did not impact my relationship with existing clients, if I had continued, it may harm my ability to build new ones.