Moving Past Loneliness into an Abundant Life

Isn’t it ironic how technology has made it extremely easy for us to stay connected through instant messaging, video calling, and social media, but it has left many of us lonelier than ever before? Even with a high number of friends and followers on different social platforms, you may not know who to talk to when you are down and depressed.

Loneliness is a complex emotion that may strike you even when you are surrounded by people. Everyone experiences loneliness at some point in life, whether it’s caused by abandonment, loss of a loved one, or even when you have a strong support system around you.

No matter what the cause is, this feeling can be confusing and scary. However, there are ways of moving past loneliness and start living a fulfilling and content life. Here are six useful tips to overcome loneliness:

Identify the Cause

The process of overcoming loneliness starts with finding its source. This feeling can be manifested due to several reasons in every individual. You need to turn toward your feelings and experiences to determine the source of your loneliness.

One may feel lonely due to various reasons, such as a temporary or permanent separation, low self-esteem, sickness, or simply due to hormonal changes. Once you have identified the source of your feelings, then you can establish an appropriate plan to overcome it.

Determine the Triggers 

You can further determine the triggers once you have found the root cause. The feeling of loneliness can hit you anytime, especially if you don’t have anyone to talk to or no one understands what you are going through.

Notice when this feeling starts seeping in and what you were doing. Did someone say anything to you or was it a particular song that trigged your loneliness? Once you identify what triggers your loneliness, you can work on eliminating those triggers from your life.

Adopt a Healthy Coping Mechanism 

Create a plan that can help you to fight the emotional and mental habits of loneliness. Seek help from a professional counselor to undergo therapy, if needed, and to devise strategies that will help you to cope with loneliness in healthier ways.

Remove negative people from your life and surround yourself with a supportive circle. Try to initiate conversations regarding depression, anxiety, and loneliness, when you meet likeminded people and use social platforms to bring together people struggling in similar ways as you.

Building a support system, where you can comfortably share your emotions and feel understood, is one of the best ways of tackling loneliness and other issues.

Implement Self-Care and Self-Kindness

Focus more on self-kindness and self-care. We often tend to neglect ourselves and focus on caring for others. You must realize that practicing self-care and being kind to yourself should be a priority if you want to live an abundant life.

All the negative feelings, including loneliness, often stems from our negative self-talk. In these moments of weakness, we tend to isolate ourselves from the people around us, believing we don’t deserve love and care.

You must be kind towards yourself. Avoid the hurtful self-talk and engage instead in self-care. Become your own cheerleader, accept your flaws, and forgive yourself for the mistakes you made. Remind yourself of the things you have overcome and accomplished so far.

You will gradually change the negative self-image into a more loving and positive one. As a result, you will feel a drastic decrease in how you’re feeling and realize you can live a content life.

Do Things You Love 

Filling your day with one thing you enjoy doing can help you manage your loneliness. Find new things to do, make more time for your hobbies, and try out different activities to find more things you will love. Try to do activities where you get a chance to meet new people.

Aside from that, dedicate some time to volunteering. Helping others not only improves their lives but yours as well. You will start feeling more satisfied and appreciate the things you have in your life. Moreover, you will have an opportunity to meet interesting people that will help alleviate your loneliness.

Keep A Journal

Maintaining a journal in which you jot down your plans, dreams, emotions, and thoughts is another effective means of moving past loneliness. It will also help you in identifying your triggers and ways you can cope with them.

You can also write down the good things that happened to you throughout the day or week to improve your mental wellness. We take a lot of things for granted and journaling can be used as a way to remind ourselves of the abundance of joy and success we have already achieved in life.

Filling up your life with activities and people may make you seem content, but it won’t remove your loneliness unless you find the underlying cause and treat it. Discard the notion that you need someone in your life to stop feeling lonely. Unless you are comfortable and happy with your own self, no matter how much you distract yourself, your loneliness will not go away.

Therefore, assess and challenge yourself to confront your fears and emotions to free yourself from the endless loop of loneliness. When you stop distracting yourself and numbing the pain, you will be able to move past it. Don’t hesitate to get professional help if things feel impossible. Living a happy and fulfilling life is not a fantasy. You just have to work hard and accept that you deserve every bit of happiness that comes your way.