The Joy List Podcast: Recent Episodes
Joy List
Americans are lonely. The average person in the U.S. has only one close friend. And to make things worse, 75% of people say that they're unsatisfied with their friendships. Religious gatherings are on the decline, but new ways to gather in community are hard to find.
Fortunately, there are easy ways anyone anywhere can foster a sense of belonging in themselves and others.
Learn more about what we discover and how you can get involved here: http://joylist.nyc/global
Some quick updates on what we've been up to! Including:
- Pre-order Jillian's new Ultimate Guide to Making Friends in NYC here.
- Learn about our new friends at therapist matchmaking site The Difference.
- We're enjoying sharing accountability with Cave Squad.
Join our global mission to help eradicate loneliness by helping 1 million people make a new friend here:
http://joylist.nyc/global
Catch up on the latest we've been working on with the Joy List!
Join our global campaign here:
http://joylist.nyc/global
(Post summary written by Jillian below!)
Two weeks ago I shared about what’s going on with The Joy List, and how we are planning to grow our mission to make NYC less lonely. And in the past 14 days a lot has changed! That’s why I sat down with Tony Bacigalupo, my collaborator and friend, to give y’all an update on what we’ve been up to.
WHAT CAN DO
But before we get into the meat of things, here’s some steps that we’re hoping you will be excited to take:
- Subscribe to The Joy List
- Contribute to our directory of belonging
- Read and share Tony’s article about how to host work sprints with friends
- Jillian is writing a guide for anyone who wants to create community at their conference! Share your conference organizing paint points to hey@joylist.nyc. Knowing your struggles will help her be maximally useful
- Email hey@joylist.nyc to chat about sponsoring the next Joy List Social
With that, onto the content!
UPDATES
1. The Joy List Social happened!
60 people gathered at Alpha HQ in Soho to drop their walls, get vulnerable, and make new friends. Shoutout to Aaron Davis for hooking us up with the space!
I shared about the “shoulds” in my life, AKA the things that I assume I need to be doing in my life… and the danger of not questioning those stories. Ezra Bookman, our ritual director and the founder of Ritualist, led everyone in a group meditation and some partnered conversation exercises. And a ton of attendees shared what events they were excited about that month, and invited anyone in the room to join them. Lots of phone numbers were exchanged, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Ezra radiating with joy, probably because he’s holding his bird flute.
Every Joy List Social I am reminded of how important this work is. On the way over to the venue, my Lyft driver told me that he wishes every single one of his passengers could attend something like it. “People always tell me their stories,” he said. “I feel like it’s because they don’t have anyone else to share it with.”
We were also told that some people showed up at the event because of their therapist’s recommendation. That truly made my night. I love that the gathering is becoming known as a safe space for people to show up as they are!
2. We’re brainstorming a video series
Tony and I are scheming on a video series about different ways that people can gather in their home. We can’t reveal what content company we’re collaborating with yet, but needless to say we’re very excited. It seems like a lot of the connections we’ve been making over the past few months are all coming together!
3. We’re creating more content
Both me and Tony are passionate about helping people become better organizers. That’s why we’re starting to create more tools, both free and paid, for gatherers to up their game. Right now Jillian is working on an ebook for conference organizers who want to create connection, and Tony is creating a manual for anyone who wants to bring people together but isn’t sure how. It’s called “Recipes for Belonging.”
Projects and people mentioned in the interview that you should definitely check out:
- Ezra Bookman of Ritualist
- Mahmoud Khedr of Flora Mind
- Alpha HQ
- Kurt Peloquin
- Death Over Dinner