The Importance of Connection
Updates from Lexington
This article continues our "Once a Sigma Nu, Always a Sigma Nu" series covering the important aspects of Sigma Nu's lifetime membership.
They say there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. I believe I’ve identified two more - life changes quickly and time speeds up as we get older. When I was boy, a day seemed like a lifetime. Now that I’m a husband and a father, a day seems like an hour. And, suddenly, I have a 10-year-old daughter educating me about the newest and coolest apps. How my life has changed doesn’t make sense to me because I know it was just a few years ago that I was sitting down with my chapter brothers for the weekly chapter meeting. At least, I thought it was just a few years ago.
Many, if not most, alumni have had a similar experience. Interestingly, this phenomenon seems to catch us by surprise, even though we have been warned about it. For my generation, Ferris Bueller was our soothsayer, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Unfortunately, he did not tell us that life moves so fast we don’t even realize the number of relationships we lose track of along the way.
Social connections (i.e. relationships) are important. Some are intimate and deeply personal. Some are casual and function at the surface level. Either way, all social connections have a role in our lives. In a June 2019 article, Magellan Health Insights explains why social connections are important for us all:
“Resilience, the ability to bounce back after stressful situations, is strengthened when you give and receive support. The support you get from your social connections can add to your feelings of meaning and purpose in life. These, in turn, add to your resilience. You count on your social connections for support, but they also count on you.”
Connection is a central component to brotherhood and friendship, and most of us have, at some point, experienced the value of connection with our fraternity brothers. As a brother, though, it is important to remember that our connections go well beyond our chapter. In fact, there are more than 187,000 living alumni around the world with whom we share a fraternal bond and connection.
As we age, there are changes that occur in our lives. Some of those changes appear to be important, in the moment, while others prove to be important in the long run. These changes all impact the connections we maintain. Before we know it, our lives have fast-forwarded 10 years and our connection to our Fraternity has wavered, which may take the shape of:
• Not having kept in contact with chapter brothers like I thought I would.
• Unsure of the state of my chapter.
• Cannot remember the last time I read an issue of The Delta magazine.
• Unsure if my alumni chapter is active.
• Unaware of The Gavel, Sigma Nu’s monthly e-newsletter.
Reconnecting with your fraternity can seem awkward, but it is really quite simple – start by updating your contact information, so you can keep up on what’s happening and reopen the door to connecting more deeply with your brothers and the Fraternity.
As an alumnus, your membership in Sigma Nu is full of opportunities – networking, sharing your experience and knowledge to benefit others, rekindling old friendships, or building new ones. In the end, we are brothers in Sigma Nu for life. No matter how fast life moves, Sigma Nu brothers will continue to support one another, all you need to do is connect.