05 Jul How to stop feeling lonely
One of, if not THE greatest contributor to happiness and wellbeing is connectedness.
Good quality relationships promote positive emotions, like happiness, and also protect against negative emotions, building resilience.
The flip side of this is that loneliness is one of the greatest causes of unhappiness. But the good news is there are steps you can take to feel and to live better …
via Psychologies
It’s never been easier to stay connected, so why do so many of us feel lost and alone? Rebecca Frank discovers how to find solace in solitude, celebrate friendship, and forge new connections, in a bid to stop feeling lonely…
When you think of loneliness, you probably imagine an elderly person living alone, with little or no family. And while old age can be a lonely time, the truth is, loneliness affects people of all ages and stages of life.
It could be the person whose marriage is failing, the single 20-something working from home, the student in a new city, or the parent left at home missing them. You can have 500 friends on Facebook and still feel lonely– or a 25-year marriage and three children.
The loneliness epidemic
The extent of loneliness is so wide that experts have called it an epidemic, and its impact on our health has been compared to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and worse than the risks associated with obesity.
I experienced what I now recognise as loneliness after having my first baby. It wasn’t acute like anxiety or debilitating like depression, but it was a gnawing feeling of disconnection from the world. It felt as if everything was going on as normal, but I was on the edge of it all.
I felt it again after my dad died, a few years ago; that same bubble formed around me, and I found it hard to connect with anyone. On both occasions, the feelings of loneliness passed, as I connected with people, got more sleep, and talked about how I was feeling.
Loneliness can be a difficult emotion to recognise, and even harder to talk about. We talk about feeling angry or sad, but loneliness is harder to define – and more shameful, somehow…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE