How to deal with loneliness

Why this resource is helpful:

"It"s normal to feel lonely. It"s okay to feel the indescribable sadness that accompanies this feeling, too. And as isolated and disconnected as you might feel, the experience of loneliness doesn"t mean you have to be cut off from the world. There are ways to feel less alone.

Everyone experiences loneliness at some time in their life. It could come after a divorce or a break up, or after moving to a new area, or when we have spent too much time on our own, whether that"s due to age, illness, or, as with the COVID-19 pandemic, social restrictions.

Some people can feel lonely even in a crowded room or in a relationship, especially if they recognize within themselves an inability to connect with others on a deeper, more intimate level which in turn, can fuel negative feelings around self-doubt and self-worth.

The stress and anxiety of social isolation
When we feel lonely, a common tendency is to escape the feeling and look for an external distraction. It could be something as simple as taking out your phone in a public place to appear busy. Or maybe you cancel social plans because you"re exhausted, only to stay home and mindlessly scroll online for hours.

Of course, at the other end of the spectrum, people can feel unmotivated and depressed, and the emotional pain can make them retreat, not wanting to engage socially or online. And when we are in a lonely place, this withdrawal exacerbates the sense of isolation, and we feel stuck.

However loneliness expresses itself, just know you"re definitely not alone in experiencing this. In fact, most people don"t know how to deal with being lonely, or how to deal with being alone. As the co-founder of Headspace and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe puts it: "In a world where we are seemingly ever more connected [via our devices], so many people say they feel increasingly disconnected, isolated, or lonely."

So what"s the antidote to loneliness? How can we accept being lonely and at the same time learn to feel at peace in our own company? Such questions might well sound impossible at first, especially when loneliness seems so hard. With meditation, there is a way."

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