In today’s society, it is difficult not to feel alone at some point in our lives. We all have our routines, our individual lives, and this may cause us not to look around us and not realize that the person next to us is going through a difficult situation without support. It can happen to any of us at any time in our lives, whether it is feeling alone or being the ignorant person.
Solitude may or may not be something sought after. When unwanted, loneliness is a rather unpleasant feeling, which arises from our inherent human need for company and affection, and to feel that we belong to a group. We are social beings and we cannot avoid it no matter how much we want to, whether we are more extroverted or introverted, and this leads to the desire to socialize.
Nowadays there are tools and apps to combat loneliness. One of them is Looplan, which was born in order to address one of the most pressing challenges of our modern society: loneliness. It was created with the firm purpose of combating isolation and fostering connection between people in a fun, meaningful way and generating real-life experiences.
Prolonged feelings of loneliness can have serious repercussions on our mental health. But, what do we do then if we precisely notice this absence of company and affection? In this article we propose strategies to confront your own feeling of loneliness and ways to cover our need for affection.
The first thing of all is to accept that you feel alone. It is something that can be difficult to assume, and even to perceive. There are people who feel alone, despite having a large group of friends, family or acquaintances, and having a false perception of company at first; in the same way that the opposite can happen, that is, a person does not feel alone despite having a small group of loved ones and living alone.
Once you have accepted the situation, It is important that you recognize the emotions that this generates in you and analyze what factors are influencing, why you feel alone and look for solutions to remedy it as much as possible. You can even tell those around you how you feel and ask them for help, or seek help from a psychology professional. The following tips that we propose are possible solutions.
2. Use social networks
One step to end loneliness is to use social networks for the purpose for which they were created: expand our circle of friends, look for people with common tastes, resume contacts, facilitate distance communication with our acquaintances… In them, you can access chats, profile walls and forums where you can interact with people to a lesser or greater extent.
However, Social networks are a double-edged sword: They show an unrealistic and idealized image of others, and are even a cultivation of hatred due to the perceived protection that distance and anonymity provide. Therefore, when using them you have to be careful with these aspects. If you think they are going to do you more harm than good, turn to other applications.
Nowadays they have even created applications whose sole purpose is to meet new people, based on your own tastes.
Looplan is the most complete application to make friends, since it puts people with common hobbies and interests in contact with each other, proposing joint activities from the first moment. Looplan becomes a crucial ally in the fight against loneliness, promoting the mental and emotional well-being of its users.
4. Sign up for activities related to your hobbies
It’s important that you create opportunities where you can meet people in person. Social networks may not be enough, especially because they do not provide the same closeness as meeting in person, physical contact is necessary; and it is clear that these opportunities are not going to appear by themselves if they have not already done so.
That is why we suggest that you sign up for activities related to your hobbies, either to meet new people or to deepen your relationship with people who would also be interested in signing up with you. In Looplan you can choose your tastes and interests so you can join plans that you like or create them yourself. For example, cooking or painting classes; to the gym, where you can take classes in different sports; or even volunteer.
5. Try to reconnect with people you already know
Sometimes the problem is not that we need more people around us and we have to meet new people, but in the quality of the relationships we already have. If we surround ourselves with people, but we are not able to open up to them, the feeling of loneliness will persist. To feel accompanied, we need to receive support and affection and if we only have superficial relationships, we cannot count on it.
It is important that you keep in mind that to achieve an intimate relationship, you have to tell and listen to intimacies, and thus achieve intimate moments, no matter the redundancies. It may be something that scares you, it is natural, opening ourselves means being vulnerable for a moment. However, we must assume that to improve relationships, we must take that risk and speak freely about the things that happen to us or how we feel.
Start with less important things and gradually increase the level of intimacy, always leaving room for the other person to open up at the same pace as us. You have to achieve reciprocity: if you don’t get that connection with one person, don’t get discouraged and keep trying with other people. It’s difficult to find the right one the first time (or the second, or the third…).
6. Find hobbies to spend at home
If the only pleasant times we have are with other people, we can become emotionally dependent and feel the need to always be accompanied. Apart from seeking to improve our circle of support, it is important that we are good with ourselves in the times when we have to be alone.
To do this, you can do pleasant activities more frequently, such as resuming old hobbies or looking for new ones. We recommend you start with activities at home, they may be easier. Keep this advice in mind in parallel with everything you do to improve your support network.
