How Long Has It Been Since You’ve Been Touched?
During a podcast episode featuring Ph.D. power couple John and Julie Gottman, the latter declared:
“Touch is as essential to our well-being as food, water, and exercise.”
Quite the terrifying concept. I can go to the grocery store and carry home bags of food. I can push or pull the handle of my kitchen faucet to dispense water. On any given day that I feel up to the task, I can take a walk around the block or head to my local gym and get as much or as little exercise as I please. I can run and lift and eat and drink to the point of exhaustion or satisfaction.
But there is no store that sells a hand to hold yours. Or a button that activates the warmth of human touch. I cannot make the simple choice to stroll down a sidewalk lined with bodies whose shoulders I will brush against.
That something can be critical to your wholeness but beyond your righteous power seems cruel.
How well is your being?
Are you starving for a kiss? Thirsty for a hug? Or have you grown so utterly malnourished that the space once holding hunger pains has gone numb?
We might find ourselves in the danger zone. Hurling toward ruin. Toeing the line of living but not fully alive.
Does every day we go without touch push us closer to inevitable demise?
And if someday someone drags their fingertips across your belly, squeezes your arm or presses their cheek against yours, if your head rests on another’s shoulder — does it push you a day back over to the other side?
