Let’s face the facts: loneliness sucks. The reasons could be one of many – moving out of your home for the first time, shifting to a new city, being dumped by the love of your life, losing a beloved to an accident – all are reasons to feel lonely. The worst thing is that even children today feel lonely, so then how to handle loneliness?
How to Deal With Loneliness
Do something random/unexpected
Life almost always gets stuck in a rut, and sometimes breaking the monotony is all it takes for you to feel that you’ve finally achieved something in life. Now this can be something as small as taking a different route to work, or a different means of commute to college, or something as daring as hopping on to a bus whose destination you aren’t aware of.
Explore your city
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been living there since birth or only recently moved in – in both cases there’s a 100% chance you haven’t explored every nook and cranny of your town, so why not begin today? You’d be surprised at the little shops you’ll come across on your way, the new people you’ll meet and maybe come across a café you like!
Tomorrow is always a new day
See, the thing is, when it comes to how to deal with loneliness, you should know that nothing in life is permanent – even loneliness. Sometimes, it’s not our bodies but our minds that need to be told that. The thing is, you need to accept that you aren’t always going to be happy and in the company of people. Sometimes, some days will make you feel like shit, and that’s okay. So long as YOU are putting in efforts to make the best of what you have, you’ve nothing to feel bad about.
Binge watch TV shows
That’s what Netflix is for, right? If you feel you’ve watched every TV show or movie there is to watch, have thought about shifting to anime? Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t all about sexualized children and octopus tentacles. There are beautiful and meaningful anime out there, like Death Parade, Death Note or Code Geass, and if you’re looking for something short and funny, try The Devil Is a Part Timer!
Join a group or club
Now which club or group activities you join is completely up to you. Sports, book reading clubs, yoga get-togethers, laughter clubs – it’s entirely in your hands. Just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about or at least have basic knowledge on. That will make it easier for you to communicate with people.
Strike up conversation with strangers
How to deal with loneliness? Simple! Talk to strangers around you! The thing is – even if they judge you for asking certain questions, who cares? You’ll never see them again so their negative opinions won’t matter to you. If you think striking up a conversation is difficult, then do it with members of the same sex or with people much older than you.
Reconnect with an old friend
If all your new friends are too busy with their lives, then how about reconnecting with an old friend you haven’t spoken in a while? Call, text, DM or message them on Facebook. Talk about the good old days and have a laugh over memories spent together. I know it can be hard to do so when you’re lonely, but look at it this way – your only other choice is to remain lonely. And you don’t want that, do you?
Help someone
When you shift the focus from yourself to someone who really needs help, then it can immediately enhance your mood. Not only that, when that person comes forward to thank you, you feel a sense of accomplishment and the feeling of loneliness melts away. So why don’t you go out of your way to help people when they’re in need of help? If that seems something too random to happen to you, then how about joining a volunteer organization and helping them out with people, animals or the environment?
Seek relief from four legs and a tail
Sometimes, it’s not humans but animals that can instantly help you with how to deal with loneliness. Have you tried going to an animal shelter and spending maybe an hour there everywhere? Take some food for the animals there, feed them and interact with them. If at all possible, think about adopting a pet – they can brighten up your life in a way that no human can.
Do something creative
You don’t have to go out of your way to create a masterpiece of a painting or redo your entire apartment on a budget to make it look high end. Nah. Go take out your old jigsaw puzzle boxes, or your old paint collection and put them to good use!
Stay away from negative people
It is important to cut out negative nellies from your life, because their only purpose in life is to bring you down. And when you’re at your weakest, that is not what you need. To be honest, it’s better to be without friends than to have "friends" who have nothing better to do than to mock you or bring you down whenever they meet you.
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