On the morning of Jan 29th, 2024 – ELMO (@elmo) tweeted on X, posting the following simple question to his followers, in a causal manner, with no real intent of seeking any response

QUOTE:

“Elmo is checking in! How is everybody doing?”

UNQUOTE

About 20 hours and hundreds of thousands of assorted responses later – @elmo re-tweeted:

QUOTE:

“Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. #EmotionalWellBeing“

UNQUOTE

As of today – more than 200 million viewers have visited this dialog on X. Even President Biden chimed in, on the need to check in on one another and ask this very simple well-being question.

This got me all fired up to write on this subject. Consider the following 2 query/greetings:

  1. How are you?
  2. How are you doing?

The first one is a normal greeting (between a genuine inquiry and a totally plastic one) – we are used to voicing when we meet someone in a work/semi-personal environment. It has become so much of an impulse action, that we often do not even think much about the query and do not even expect a response. This is a very surface-level transaction and often automatic and impersonal.

The second one has just one extra word – “doing”. And, when included with the right caring attitude, it can make a big difference to your friend/acquaintance. This transaction can be full of empathy and reach deep into the individual to provide solace and comfort. The last 3 year Covid period (2020-2022), has been catastrophic for a lot of people – particularly folks who have become isolated and lonely, for whatever reason.

With everything going on in our world today – family-centric, locally, nationally and internationally – there are lots of us fragile individuals who withdraw emotionally, and unintentionally threaten our personal well-being. Some of us unfortunately are isolated – living far away from close family members and friends we grew up with. We tend to add layers of cocoons to protect ourselves; often totally unaware of the harm this isolation is doing to us vs the benefits of self-protection/preservation.

So what can you do about it? – If you believe you are fine and have managed to stay above the turmoil that pulls some of us into the spiral of self-doubt, isolation, and in a bad-being state (vs well-being) – Focus on your circle of immediate friends/acquaintances you interact with regularly. Watch out for tell-tale signs of anyone avoiding contact, canceling lunch/dinner/movie plans regularly, and drifting apart. Immediately reach out for a wellness check, and ask “How are you doing” and “How can I help”. Believe me, your check-in will make a difference and help a friend in need.

I understand that one individual cannot fix the entire world. But if everyone makes the effort to reach out and help a few friends close to them, just by maintaining regular wellness contact – the results will be exponential – and we can remove the darkness in the world, one torchlight at a time.

I have personally made it a habit to regularly reach out to a small group within my circle of life, periodically, with just an SMS – “Touching base, hope all is well with you and your family”. Do not assume that no contact from your circle of friends is always “nothing to see here” and all is well. You have to reach out sometimes, to open the floodgates and provide well-being support. In most/all cases, the impacted individual is struggling, withdrawn; and without being thrown a rope, will probably drown all alone.

I am just glad that the universally loved Sesame Street character ELMO asked this question – which stirred 200 million of us from our slumber, with over 16 K replies – to take notice of how bad the societal situation has become on personal wellness and mental illness, all around us. Keep this ELMO thought in front of you and do something meaningful about it – TODAY, and do not procrastinate – I’ll look into it when I find some free time.