3 Stages Of Understanding And Dealing With Loneliness

When you pictured where you would be at this phase in your life, what did you see?Chances are, you had great ideas about the freedom that you would have, to do whatever you want, and had imagined your dream job and a perfect life.As humans, we spend a lot of time dreaming of the big things that we desire and crave for, but we overlook the simple things that really matter.One of the things we don’t picture often enough is the presence of other people in our grand plans of life.

These stages can appear in your life for many reasons. Perhaps, you have just gone through a break up with a significant other, or your friends have moved on into a new life phase, or you have moved across the country and aren’t sure how to put your roots down in a new place.

No matter the reason, there is no need to fear loneliness. While it can be hard to come home to an empty apartment and spend the evenings alone, periods of loneliness can also be an amazing time to take care of yourself, build yourself back up, and find new connections that can help you feel fulfilled and complete, all over again.

# Self-Care

If your evenings find you alone on the couch, dreaming of days in the past in order to escape the loneliness you feel right now, you are in desperate need of some self-care. Loneliness can be sad, but it can also be a chance to pamper yourself. After all, there is no one else for you to be worrying about! This means you are able to put yourself first, guilt-free!

What are your favorite guilty pleasures? Whether it is an excessively long hot bath, playing your favorite songs at top-volume, or eating an entire pint of ice cream while watching your favorite Netflix show, you have the right to do it!

# Self-Improvement

Once you begin to find ways to embrace being alone through pampering yourself, you may begin to get restless. After all, even pampering yourself can get old after a few weeks! This is your next big step in embracing loneliness – taking this opportunity to improve yourself.

A self-improvement journey will be different for everyone, as each individual has different areas that they will need to focus on. A good place to start is to write down a list of the ways you would like to improve intellectually, emotionally/spiritually, and physically. Once you have these three lists, you can pick out one or two from each list to work on at one time.

# Finding Connections Again

Despite the many benefits that can be gained from time alone and embracing loneliness, humans are social creatures and finding people to support you in your current life phase is important. It is important to take care of yourself first before beginning this step, because you need to be able to avoid connections that are not going to be healthy for you.

If you are desperate for human connection in a time of loneliness, you are far more likely to end up surrounded by people who are harmful for you. So make sure you are in a good place before you begin looking to connect with new people!