Member-only story
Loneliness shouldn’t be a stigma
And 6 tips what to do about it
Loneliness is a killer. Recent studies show that it has similar effects on our health to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That’s a lot of cigarettes for a non-smoker.
Like Covid-19 and its variants, loneliness doesn’t discriminate. It affects the old and the young, the wealthy and the poor, those who live alone or in community. It goes beyond gender, race, sexual orientation and it doesn’t stop at those with a disability.
Most of us have experienced loneliness in one way or another over the past year (because of the pandemic). And there are many ways to be lonely. In its crude form, it’s the absence of a human (physical) connection. But it can also happen when most of one’s friends are in stable relationships, and they start to kind of forget about their “single friend”.
It can happen when you are with your crew at a party (remember those days?) but you don’t feel connected to them at that moment.
Loneliness is also when you have a deep secret that you can’t share with your community. It can be anything from mental health, gender or sexual orientation to questions about your faith or a recent traumatic experience. You can feel lonely to the point of isolation because of fear of rejection.
