Lonely ?

Article in Stretton Focus, September 2015

In today’s western society there are more people living alone than at any other time in history. There are many reasons for this – families are smaller and spread far and wide; divorce; separation; single parents. We are living longer, and surviving the death of partner and friends.
Thanks to the Internet, our methods of social interaction have changed. We email rather than telephone. We text, tweet, use facebook and chatrooms. Even people who don’t live alone can suffer from loneliness, as in a difficult marriage.
There are other forms of loneliness, for example a Head of State; captain of a ship; priest in a parish – all of them carrying burdens of responsibility, which they cannot share. People who are brave enough to go against popular opinion can find themselves alone.
For most of us, being too much alone can be detrimental to our mental and spiritual health. We can spend too much time brooding on our own problems, and blow them out of all proportion. Nevertheless, we all need to experience some time alone. This can be liberating. It can help us to be creative. But we need a balance, with other people there to stimulate our minds and help us to become better human beings.
It is good to mix with as many people as possible. In that way we can be challenged and not get to depend on just one or two like-minded people. Some people rely on a pet cat or dog for company, and that’s OK, at least they are not argumentative!
We won’t all find a soul-mate, but we do need people to talk with. Our famous British reserve means we often hesitate to make the first move in social contact; fearing rejection or making a fool of ourselves. In Church Stretton we are lucky in having a viable community, boosted by Mayfair and its outreach services, bringing people together.
What else can we do to combat loneliness? Join a club, do voluntary work, go to the pub, join a church. These activities will certainly help, but above all have a healthy friendship with yourself, and then even when you are alone you need never be lonely.

Janet Longstaff

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.