Why Living in New Orleans Might Be the Best Thing for Your Health
The surprising link between this city's culture and what scientists say we all need most
I was sitting in a room full of real estate agents this morning when Dr. Michelle Johnston paused mid-conversation and said something that caught everyone off guard.
She looked around at the energy in the room, the music, the food, the genuine camaraderie, and said, “What you all have built here is exactly what I’ve been researching for years. You’re doing connection. And most of the world has forgotten how.”
I’ve lived and worked in New Orleans long enough to know that what she was describing isn’t unique to that room. It’s just... us. It’s what we do here.
But here’s what hit me: while the rest of the world is in a full blown loneliness crisis, and Dr. Johnston isn’t being dramatic when she calls it that, we’ve been quietly doing the thing that everyone else is desperately trying to figure out.
Front porches. Second lines. Mardi Gras. Neighborhood festivals. The fact that you actually know your neighbors. The fact that strangers become friends over a bowl of gumbo before you even learn their last name.
Dr. Johnston, who teaches leadership at Loyola and has coached CEOs across the globe, told us that the former U.S. Surgeon General declared that 1 in 5 people worldwide are now feeling disconnected, isolated, and lonely. He called it an epidemic. He said disconnection is the equivalent of smoking sixteen cigarettes a day.
Sixteen cigarettes a day.
And yet here we are in New Orleans, where the calendar basically forces you into community whether you’re ready or not. You can’t avoid your neighbors on a front porch street. You can’t stay isolated during Mardi Gras. You can’t move through this city without bumping into someone who knows someone who loves you.
Dr. Johnston gave a speech recently where she said flat out: “New Orleans does connection better than any city in America.”
As someone who chose to plant roots here and build a business here, that didn’t surprise me. But it did make me stop and think, are we taking it for granted?
Because the thing about living somewhere magical is that you can get so used to the magic that you stop seeing it. You stop protecting it. You stop showing up for it.
So consider this a love letter to this city, and a gentle nudge to lean into what makes it special. Go to the neighborhood event. Sit on the porch. Show up for the second line even when you’re tired.
Turns out, it’s not just good for the soul. According to the research, it might literally be saving your life.