Do You Feel Lonely?
If you are currently reading this, it is most likely that you do feel lonely. And if you do feel lonely, please know that this state of being has become quite the epidemic on a national scale and probably even on a global scale. I’m sure this has to do with the ability to immediately connect with one another via social media, mobile applications and webcam capabilities. However, those connections for the most part are superficial and provide immediate gratification, which is the worst way to achieve gratification. Gratification should be delayed through the process of attainment, achievement, hard work and dedication. Which is exactly the reason we are left feeling lonely. If you can connect with someone immediately, you will never need to work hard to reap the rewards of true connection – the opposing combatant of loneliness. You can just trade out one person for the next; one feeling for the next. The sad reality is that constant trading of people and emotions – as though we are toys or material items to be discarded as so chosen – will actuate our state of continually being left feeling lonely.
This is one reason that I have chosen to only come into the age of technology and social media, until this juncture. I want to work hard to grow my private practice as a therapist and I know that social media is a necessary tool in doing so. As I engage in this world of technology, I will consistently try to keep my entries short in order to maintain my reader’s attention and I will try to deliver information that is easy to digest mentally, then apply to your every- day life.
In short, if you truly want to combat loneliness – work hard to not feel lonely. This means, extend yourself in areas that are uncomfortable – the exercise class that you are angst ridden about attending but truly want to attend, volunteer for an organization that speaks to your heart, join the meet up that sparks your interest, or frequent small businesses that promote your beliefs and engage in the act of saying “Hi”. Align yourself with people that enjoy things you WANT to enjoy in the real world rather than at home in the world that you have created.
The bottom line is to find someone or a group of people that you can talk to, confide in, create with, feel with, learn with, grow with and BE with.
Real Live People.
We are born connected to someone literally, (via the umbilical cord), and should not spend life disconnected. We need one another, but start the process of connection on a deeper, substantial, and meaningful level.
Lisa Parani 