What are the ways to deal with loneliness?

Loneliness is that sentiment when you feel you are alone and nobody appreciates or care about you. It is a feeling of helplessness. The loneliness can interrupt your sleep on a regular basis. You feel the burden even when you rest. Insomnia and dearth of rest are both the results of loneliness. 

Loneliness causes addiction to a few unscrupulous habits to get momentary happiness. If you feel lonely once in a while it is normal, but if you feel lonely for an extensive period, you need to seek help.

Feeling lonely can take a toll on a person’s cerebral health. When you feel quarantined and alone it prompts you to think that no one around cares about you, even if that’s not true. This makes it even tougher to reach out for help. The more you feel this way, the more you may find yourself withdrawing from others around you. This can be a risky cycle.

How can you know you are lonely?

•Finding it difficult to sleep

•Not having someone with you, with whom you can share your feelings

•Change in weight (gaining or losing)

•Not active on any social platform

•Afraid to speak your mind in front of others

•Feeling left out

•Crying for small reasons

What causes loneliness?

•Environment factors – When a person is habituated to live in an isolated area and has recently moved to a new location, they are more vulnerable to loneliness. Moreover, traveling to a new country or state where language or culture differs may lead to loneliness.

•Circumstances in life – Painful life circumstances like ruthless past experiences, divorce, or loss of someone dear to you, can increase feelings of loneliness.

•Opinions & Attitudes – The way we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us can also trigger loneliness.

•Inappropriate treatment – Constant abuses from superiors, hostile parents, differences with close relations, fewer opportunities to open up, and the feeling of hostility and helplessness can give rise to loneliness.

Ways to deal with loneliness:

1. Figure out what factors make you feel alone

It is quintessential for each individual to keep a check on which acts, belongings, thoughts or activities make them feel alone. The individual should be able to distinguish between lows and highs in their life.

Loneliness can be the effect of something that is going on in your lives, like anxiety, illness, or any disability. Anxiety, mental illness like bipolar, and depression can lead you to loneliness. These diseases can be caused due to multiple reasons like persistent work pressure, loss of someone, unnecessary fights with close ones, continuous reprimands from superiors, family tensions, and many more.

So whenever you feel deserted and alone, you need to become robust and find out the reasons that are bothering you. In such a scenario, you need to put maximum effort to work on issues that are disconcerting you and hindering your progress.

2. Explain yourself loneliness is not permanent

You need to put in your mind that loneliness is just a chapter of life and it is not going to persist forever. It is tough to get out of this phase, but you need to motivate yourself and put extreme efforts to come out resilient from all odds. 

Whenever you realize, you are not only the one going through the rough patch of loneliness, but many in this globe are experiencing the same feelings can help you a bit.

Hence, loneliness is not a helpless condition. There are activities you can do to combat the feeling of loneliness and begin to have a more meaningful life, social connections in your life.

3. Keep yourself busy as much as you can

Sometimes being a workaholic also helps you to be away from loneliness. The more you have occupied yourself, the less the undesirable thoughts pop up in your mind. It is well-known to us, “An empty mind is a devil’s workshop”. 

Thus, you can keep yourself busy either by doing your office work, going out for a walk with family, chat with friends, exercise, singing, dancing, travelling, phone calls, acting, and many more. Thus, keep yourself engaged in some or the other way, which would leave very little time to be alone. 

4. Keep talking and sharing with close ones constantly

Whenever you feel dejected, share your views with your family, friends, or close ones. Never keep the things to yourself, as it may pile up the pressure within and you may start losing interest in things you used to like.

Sharing your emotions with family is the best way to stay away from loneliness. The family is one who cognizes you and keeps on inspiring you constantly. You should always share your opinions with your friends, as they will make sure you alter your mood and gently move away from loneliness.

Loneliness and social anxiety always go hand in hand. If you are afraid to attend social events and meet other people, make new connections, it may give rise to social anxiety. However, it is necessary to overcome these anxious feelings and get out, speak confidently, and experience life.

If you still feel nobody understands what you are going through, you can visit the therapist without any hesitation.

5. Start writing when nobody is around

It happens many a time that you roam around for the whole day, work for the whole day but at a certain moment of time, you start feeling lonely. The reason may be you are missing someone, can’t express something to everyone, flashbacks popup, and anxiety start building up.

During such moments you feel like not talking with anyone, so you can always express your feelings by writing a diary. This is one of the best techniques to jot down your thoughts and feelings. 

You can also practice writing on any topic you like which will eventually improve your writing skills and you would start taking interest in it.

6. Distract yourself by pursuing whatever you like

The best way to reduce isolation is to call old friends or make new ones. You can also try to pursue your hobbies like playing games, reading, writing, drawing and arts, swimming, cooking, and many more. These hobbies give you internal peace and distract your mind. 

The hobbies also make sure you are not alone and have several like-minded people with whom you can share your thoughts and interact. You can also join clubs as per your interest to increase your day to day interaction with people.

7. Start loving yourself and take care of yourself

The last and the vital thing is to start loving yourself. We have only one life and enjoy it to the fullest. Try to move on in your life and carve a name for yourself. Hence, always keep on explaining to you, that you are the best and nobody can take undue advantage of you.

The priority is to look after your health and enjoy the minutest of moments. Do meditations or yoga or any other form of exercise that will help you increase concentration and keep you away from needless thoughts.

To conclude, I would say every human goes through a feeling of loneliness. This loneliness is provisional and occurs once in a while, but if you are feeling lonely for an extended duration, do open up and share your thoughts. 

Do the things that you like and find comfort in doing so. Keep on interacting with your close ones and seek their advice. In case you are still feeling lonely, visit a therapist without a second thought in mind who can guide you well.