What is
Loneliness?
Loneliness is the lack of the human touch. It is living each and
every day without the human contact that is critical to survival.
Loneliness is going to bed every night without a kiss good night. It
is the lack of a hug when you are hurting and the absence of warmth
when you are cold.
Loneliness is having no one to tell your stories. There is no one to
listen when you get home from work, and you need to vent about the
horrid driver who cut you off on the way to work that morning.
Loneliness is watching television alone, and there is no one to share
the joke in a comedy or to grab your hand during a scary movie.
Loneliness hits at the oddest times. It will rear its ugly head when
you are carrying in the groceries, and there is no one to help with
the heavy stuff. It appears when there is that one jar in the pantry
that you just cannot get open no matter what. Loneliness is having
no one to tell you if your new perfumes stinks or if that skirt is
really too tight.
You do not have to be alone to be lonely. Loneliness can be staring
across the table at your partner, and you do not have a single thing
to say. It can also be having something to say, but your partner is
not interested in hearing it. Loneliness can be living with someone
day in and day out for years, and you are wondering why you are
there. Loneliness can be someone taking you for granted to the point
that you feel like a piece of furniture. It feels like you are the
wallpaper in a room that no one bothers to glance at; you are a vital
component, and no one notices that you are there.
Loneliness can take you so deep inside yourself that even those who
wish to reach you cannot reach that far. Loneliness can be a
self-fulfilling prophecy. It can become a never-ending spiral. Loneliness can
become your beginning and your end. You begin to structure your life
around your loneliness, and it perpetuates itself.
Loneliness can be
directly caused by a loss. Loneliness is reaching out to the other
side of the bed, and there is no longer anyone there. It is reaching
for the phone and remembering no one will answer. There is no
greater outward expression of loneliness than kneeling before a
tombstone and pouring out your heart. It is the grandchildren you
will never have, and it is the life events you will never witness.
The search for the
cure can take many forms. Some pursue the company of others with an
almost manic need for human contact. Others withdraw into
themselves, fearing that any contact will fall short of their
expectations. This belief leads them to fortify their walls of
loneliness to avoid any possible hurt. Either scenario can have far
worse consequences than loneliness itself.
If loneliness is
your cross to bear, reach out. You do not need the company of
thousands. One person will do. Once you have connected with one
person, others will come. If you know someone suffering, reach out.
You may be the hand that pulls one from the pit that is loneliness.
Loneliness does not need to be the primary force in your life. There
are options, and there is a way back.
Love,
Jerri
No comments:
Post a Comment