How To Deal With Loneliness

If you find yourself feeling lonely, you need to be patient. Most people are not alone much and loneliness can be hard to deal with if you’re not used to it. But this shouldn’t worry you because being alone can be great, once you’ve learned to embrace it.
If you think about it, there are already many places where you are alone. The bathroom, the coffee shop, the library, and on the bus during your morning commute. When you’re alone in the bathroom, you have time think or read the paper. When you’re in a coffee shop, it’s totally acceptable to sit alone and watch the people walk by. The library is a place where you’re not supposed to talk anyway so it’s a fine place to sit alone and read.
But that’s not all–there are plenty of other places where it’s more than okay to be alone. How about the gym? You can simply put headphones in and isolate yourself from the world around you as you get your workout in. Then there’s public transportation which is constantly occupied by people who are alone while heading somewhere.
If you think about it, it’s also totally fine to go out to lunch by yourself. Most employees only have an hour for lunch and don’t have enough time to meet up with friends and spouses who work on the other side of town. They’ll be eating out alone, just like you.

You can go pray or mediate alone in a church, synagogue, or mosque. No one will judge you for being alone while praying and thinking.

When you’re ready, take yourself out to dinner alone. Plenty of businessmen do it when they’re far from home. Avoid hanging out with your cell phone and try to enjoy the alone time. Chat up the waiter or sit at the bar and make conversation with the bartender.
Go to the movies alone. It’s dark and relaxing in a movie theater and hardly anyone will notice you’re alone. It’s another great place where it’s okay to be lonely.
You can go on a hike in the woods alone and find comfort among the birds, trees, and forest animals.
You can be alone in a unfamiliar city and find comfort in a park or on a bench somewhere.
It’s strange but society is afraid to be alone. We’re somehow afraid to be alone, and if we’re not “paired up” by a certain point in our lives, people start to think there’s something wrong with us.
Yet, this is the wrong way of thinking. Being lonely can be a liberating feeling. Being alone affords you a certain kind of freedom that makes things somehow easier. Being alone can be an amazing opportunity.
All that matters, in the end, is that you find happiness on your own. Love yourself and learn to love being alone.
Soon enough, you’ll learn to overcome the feelings of insecurity and, in time, you’ll learn to love your time alone.

There’s a great lyrical poem by Tonya Davis called “How To Be Alone” that perfectly captures the beauty and important of alone time. You can watch this awesome video which was created based on the poem.
Ultimately, dealing with loneliness is entirely up to you. Remember, at first you must be patient. You cannot expect to conquer feelings of loneliness all at once. I assure you that over time, and with practice, you’ll learn to love and cherish those few moments when you do find yourself alone. It is in those moments that we can truly be ourselves and learn to enjoy our own company. This is a very important lesson to learn