On May 21, 2022, Tom Turcich of New Jersey became the 10th person to walk around the world. Over seven years, he walked 48,000 kilometers across six continents and 38 countries - most of it with his dog Savannah.

Speaking to CNN, Turcich explained that, after a friend died in an accident at age 17 he started to look at life differently, and decided to go on a journey around the world. It took over eight years of saving and planning before Turcich finally left his home on April 2, 2015 - just before his 26th birthday - on his way to Panama. He had a stroller to carry his hiking equipment, a sleeping bag, a laptop, a camera and a box of food.

About four months into the journey, Turcich adopted Savannah from, an animal shelter in Texas. She joined him for the rest of the trip, becoming the first dog to walk around the world. The pair walked around 30-40 kilometers a day, spending most nights camping. Some parts could not be done on foot, however - such as when Turcich and Savannah took a boat from Uruguay to Antarctica. In late 2017, Turcich had to return home to recover from an illness he got while traveling through Ireland and the UK.

He and Savannah started walking again in May 2018, going through Europe, North Africa and Turkey before getting stuck in Azerbaijan for six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were able to travel to Kyrgyzstan before taking a plane to Seattle. From there, he and Savannah walked back to New Jersey.

Turcich said the most difficult place to walk through was “desolate“ Wyoming. Now that he’s back home, Turcich says he wants to stay in one place for a while - and write a book about his trip.

Next time you consider striking up a conversation with a stranger in line at the grocery store or while waiting at the laundry, keep in mind that it might be beneficial for your well-being. A recent study by a group of researchers found that there is a link between happiness and a term that the researchers coined called “relational diversity.”

Using public data from sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the World Health Organization, the researchers analyzed data sets and survey responses from people who had shared their daily habits, schedules and interactions. They noticed a clear relationship between relational diversity and overall levels of satisfaction.

Hanne Collins, a Harvard Business School doctoral student who co-authored the study, says that relational diversity is composed of two elements: richness and evenness. Richness measures relationship categories, or how many kinds of people you interact with in a day. That could be your romantic partner, a family member, a neighbor or a stranger. “The more relationship categories they talk to in a day and the more even their conversations are across those categories, the happier they are. And we find this in a large sample across many countries,” Collins said. Evenness relates to the distribution of conversations among those different relationship categories. Some people may find themselves interacting with colleagues at work more than, say, their family members. “If you have a few conversations with colleagues, a few with friends, a few with a romantic partner or a couple chats with strangers, that’s going to be more even across these categories,” Collins explained.

Ultimately, Collins says, the study gives insight to the idea that humans are social creatures at heart. Having a support system is important, but it goes beyond your inner circle. “It’s about this mix. It’s about connecting with people who are close to you, who are maybe less close to you, who connect you with other people, who provide different kinds of support,” she said. “Essentially, the idea is that the more diverse your social portfolio, the happier you are and the higher your well-being.”