Loneliness and Connection
During Mental Health Awareness Month, which runs through October, there is a Mindful Minute Challenge run at work that gives €Job& employees a chance to learn about and practice mindfulness meditation using the Happier - Meditation app.
I’ve signed up for the challenge over the last few years and found meditating via the app or using the Mindful app on my Apple Watch to do some breathing exercises to be really helpful. While browsing through the meditations last week, I found one title that was particularly triggering for me. The title of the meditation was “Loneliness and Connection,” and it got me contemplating about how I’ve been feeling over the last few years. The opening paragraph of the meditation, quoted below, contained the phrase that I think I was looking for to help me understand some of my thoughts.
Quote:There’s a difference between solitude and loneliness. Solitude is an experience of being alone and feeling connected to oneself. Loneliness is the absence of connection altogether. It’s ironic but sometimes we can feel the loneliest when we’re around others. It’s hard to be around friends or loved ones and miss the connection and belonging we want.
With everything that’s been going on recently—from buying a new house to my job to our journey to begin a family, to a friend and my grandmother passing away a few years ago, and lately my mum’s cancer diagnosis and treatment—I’ve been wanting to talk to somebody, as I recognise that these events have been affecting me a lot. Beginning to concede that my attempts to resolve it on my own might not be working. I have very few friends, so not many with whom I feel connected with which is contributing to my feelings of loneliness, and the phrase from the meditation—“Loneliness is the absence of connection altogether”—really resonated with me.
I hope these realisations will help me take the step to reach out and talk to someone, a professional. My husband is really supportive but I’d really like to connect with friends, both old and new, and open up about what’s on my mind.
(Thanks for your practice)