Loneliness. The word itself has a haunting, heavy feel to it; one that grabs your heart strings and tugs on them with a force that no physical impact could have. In a simple definition, loneliness is described as the sadness you feel when one has no friends or company; known by other names such as companionless, friendless or
alone.
This is an incredibly common feeling in our society. It’s highlighted in movies, literature, every-day discussions and classrooms. As human beings we are biologically known for being social creatures, essentially meaning that every person has dealt with some sort of loneliness in their lifetime; whether it be minor (such as working long hours alone in a shop), or more major (alone and camping out in the woods, “Into the Wild” style) circumstances. The one circumstance that is not talked about nearly enough, however, is the feeling of loneliness that some get even when their life is full of people and their social circle is present and supportive.
This circumstance of being alone in a crowded room was identified by myself early into my life. Not recognizing that what I was feeling was depression from an early age made me simply accept the fact that I was weird; that I wasn’t as happy or positive as everyone else simply because I wasn’t born to fit in. This settlement of being an outcast made me feel a constant sense of uncomfortable; one that, for over a decade, I learned to embrace and identify myself with. I was scared to let people in to see the reality; that I was struggling internally day after day while I put on a smile and used all of my energy to get a laugh out of my friends and peers. It got to a point where, in my first year of university, I found myself sitting in a crowded room at one of our many parties- beer, good friends and great music all in abundance- feeling completely and utterly alone.
Loneliness is one of those feelings that, if not taken care of, can creep up on you. It’s a feeling that will keep you up at night and make you seriously question yourself as a person. You have friends, but they don’t really know who you are, I would often tell myself as I laid in bed late at night. If they knew how sad you truly were, they would all leave.
Face it, you’re alone in this.
What needs to be addressed more by those who have experienced this feeling is that the input that the little voice in your head is whispering to you is complete crap. The feeling of loneliness, in this case, is one that those who are internally struggling form out of fear. I felt incredibly alone for years because I refused to let anyone in to see the real me, because I had constructed this “worst-case scenario” in my head that if I opened up to those I loved they would all leave me, because I was terrified of the judgement and disgust that I “knew” the people around me would show when I told them I had depression.
But, when it got to be too much, I realized how wrong I was.
When I finally told my best friend of ten years how I was really doing inside, he cried on the phone and told me he loved me. When I finally told my teammates and my peers, they gave me endless support and showed a love that I did not expect. When I told my family, there were light hearted jokes thrown around and a wave of support that I had told myself would never happen. I quickly realized that the worst-case scenario I had formulated in my head was never going to be the case, that these people in my life were there for one reason and for one reason only: because they loved me and all the quirks that came with me. It made me realize that the barrier I had put up to separate my true self to the ones around me, which had been done in an attempt to protect myself, was actually the one thing making me feel completely and utterly alone. It wasn’t until I took that barrier down where the deep, destructive feelings of loneliness started to really go away.
As people struggling with depression, we often feel like a burden to those around us; like showing our true feelings would scare the people we care about away. We fear that opening up will make us seem weaker and crazier than the average person and ruin any potential relationships (romantic or not) that come our way. The Canadian Mental Health Association states that of all the people in the country suffering from a mental illness, approximately HALF don’t seek help or reach out to their closest friends/family. They also state that a simple reaching out, whether it be professional help or help from those closest to you, could potentially save the lives of over 80% of those struggling internally. It’s an action that I cannot simply stress enough. Opening up to my friends and family not only got rid of that loneliness that was corroding my inner self; it saved my life and helped me become who I truly wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong, I am not perfect- I still have those feelings of loneliness from time to time; like I mentioned, as humans this is normal. But knowing that I’m on the same page as my friends and family helps more than I could express in this tiny blog post.
For anyone with the same voice in their head as me telling them “You’re alone in this”, for anyone who has put up a barricade in an attempt to protect themselves and the relationships they’ve built over the years, for anyone who, much like me, can sit in a crowded room and still feel completely alone: try to take that terrifying step of letting your friends and family in. I promise knocking that barricade down isn’t as scary as you think. One of my favourite sayings of all time is the same sentence that used to make me roll my eyes immediately when it was told to me because of how cliché it seemed, because it contradicted everything my inner voice had told me for so long. But it’s one that, when you make it to the other side, you realize is the truest advice anyone could give you:
You’re NOT alone in this.
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