Upāsaka

Even the largest of changes start from the smallest of actions. No one goes from zero to having a fulfilling social life in an instant. A fulfilling social life is composed of smaller pieces that create the whole. It's as simple as saying hello to someone you haven't seen in a while as you pass by. This could be once a day, or even less frequently. You could have one conversation per week with someone you don't usually talk to that much. Over the course of a year, that compounds to 52 meaningful conversations. If that's 52 different people, then that's a lot of people to know at a casual level. If fewer, then you probably made some deeper connections that will last a long time.

The same goes for the meditation practice. You might read of monks meditating all day and all night, or meditation retreats where people sit for hours upon hours. Though there are benefits to intensive meditation courses, small amounts of meditation every day compound to developing samatha (a calm mind) and vipassanā (insight).

At the minimum, 5 minutes per day is enough. I usually split my time between walking and sitting meditation, so that is a total of 10 minutes. It's not that hard to find 10 minutes per day (if it is, you might need to rethink your schedule), but the results of a consistent meditation practice are noticeable. Although I started with 10 minutes per day, I now average around 20 minutes per day. Throughout the rest of the day, I feel mental clarity as I recall the experience of the morning meditation.

If you think about it, 10 minutes per day equates to about 60 hours per year. That's more than 2 straight days of meditation! And that's on the low end.