Have you been feeling irritable, impatient, on edge, antsy and depressed? Have you been feeling like you want to jump out of your own skin lately? What’s really happening to our human bodies during all of this isolation, social distancing, quarantining and panic? There is a major shift in our hormone excretion. And one very important hormone is being neglected right now. That hormone is called oxytocin, the love hormone.

By nature, we are social beings. One of our primal needs for existence is connection with other humans. Since the beginning of time, we exercised our need for connection by physical touch through hugs, hand shakes, holding hands, high-fives, cuddling and sex. And BOOM! All in a finite moment, we were ordered to stop a form of connection that has been meeting the needs of humans for 200,000 years!

So no wonder I’m filled with angst lately. I have been neglecting oxytocin and stunting it’s role in my daily life. Oxytocin meets the psychological needs of humans. In reference to my blog a few weeks ago, “A kick in the a** to a life worth living”, we need to find new ways to LIVE with this new state of the world. Living in isolation is not living, it is simply existing and humans NEED the love hormone to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.

If you know me, you know that I’m not a rebel. I like norms. I think norms are in place to help the world go round. So I am certainly not recommending that we disregard the physical touch norms of today’s world. I am recommending that we take a look at oxytocin and find ways to excrete it without physical touch. I don’t know much but one thing I know for certain is that we need oxytocin similar to how we need air to breath. Love is the greatest emotion of all. Without love, what is the world? Without love, without touch, without sex, we would not exist as a species. Without love, the world would not exist.

Simple as that. We need oxytocin. We need the love hormone back in our lives. There are tons of ways to release oxytocin without breaking the norms of physical touch. Check-out the Emotional Wellness Tab to find out some simple and accessible ways to release the love hormone. Check-out the Self-Affirmations Tab for inspiration, joy and motivation.