Here is what I think connecting with others means: I connect with someone when, in my heart and mind, I understand their needs and feelings.

If my everyday experience is different from a person's daily experience, my ability to connect with them decreases radically. For example, I have great difficulty connecting with people who do not read.

So, as I imagined spending 10x what I was spending before on myself, I realized that I would lose my ability to connect with a huge number of human beings. Hence, the vow.