Remedy For Loneliness
Feeling lonely is becoming an issue of concern in the last few decades. Though it is normal for everyone, moving to a new city, packing into a new apartment or even going for a walk to feel lonely. I know a lot of us will argue about people feeling lonely in this modern age of different social medias and other interactive platforms. But the fact still remains being lonely and feeling alone are two different attributes which shouldn't be confused with.
Loneliness is more of a psychological effect than societal, alot of people say they are more comfortable being alone than having friends around. Loneliness has nothing to do with associating with friends, it is an individual thing, and feeling lonely is something we should worry about.
A common attribute about people who feel lonely, is their inability to associate with people, make new friends and so they resolve to being on their own. Even the most social person could be lonely and so the generalization of it only affecting the introverts is wrong. Fame, beauty, great talking skills and social personality can not protect you from being lonely, which makes everyone vulnerable to loneliness.
What Is Loneliness ?
According to Merriam-webster dictionary, it means causing sad feelings that come from being apart from other people. It is a bodily function that alerts our social deficit.
Life on earth wouldn't have been easy, if our ancestors were lonely or felt separated from one another.Haunting for food, caring for offsprings and making new tools were all part of the early life process. With time, our brains grew to adapt with such union, making it impossible for one to stay away without a nudge.
Being social became engraved in our DNA, and our body has developed a protective measure called 'social pain', an evolutionary trait aim at correcting ourselves from behaviours that will isolate us from others. This protective mechanism was functional for our ancestors, until civilization came in.
Someone once said, 'loneliness lives within us. I know you might be wondering why? In our world today, we devote time to activities that doesn't involve the second party individually. Like watching netflix, playing video games and being all day on social media will never put you on an edge over loneliness, but physical interactions will.
Loneliness is a growth inducer of many ailments like cancer, alzheimer, weakens our immune system and twice as deadly as obesity. The worst part of loneliness is its ability to upgrade from chronic to self sustaining condition. When this condition becomes chronic, our brains develop defense mechanisms just to get us off this terrible state. Studies have shown that in states of loneliness, our brain is attentive to social signals but interprets them wrongly, making it difficult for one to get off the vehicle of loneliness. The part of our brain which identifies faces will misinterpret it making all faces hostile, this is in bid to prevent you from mingling with others. Since you don't want to be badly treated by others, you tend to isolate yourself from others, which only worsens your condition.
Coming out of loneliness is a gradual process which requires constant and efficious steps. Firstly, you really need to identify the problem, a lot of young people say they feel lonely whenever they are new to a place. If you are in this category, I think being more socially open will help heal you faster. Rather than create a barricade around yourself, try to be open with others, you don't have to allow your mind interpret the expression on people's face. They could be friendly but your mind is only playing a prank on you. Loneliness in its chronic state leads to depression and social withdrawal, so I will advice you don't allow loneliness gets to this stage. If you are having difficulties with loneliness, you can reach out to qualified personnels who are willing and ready to help.
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