The good news is, literally almost everyone on earth is going through the same thing. We are all home, if we are lucky enough to have a home, and we are dealing with being away from friends, school, work and our favourite hobbies, activities and rituals.
Step 1: Before anything else, adjust your mindset
Loneliness is a feeling, not a fact. The feeling of loneliness is mainly in your mind. If you are someone who knows how to be content and enjoy your own company without others around, then you are off to a great start. You should definitely allow yourself to feel the emotions when they hit you, but it is best not to dwell on the negative, because then you go from simply feeling something, to torturing yourself by heightening those bad feelings and dwelling on them for longer than you should.
Step 2: Connect with as many people as you can
Remember that famous Harvard study that documented the lives of 268 students for over 80 years to find out how to live a happy life? Well the answer to who was happiest and lived the longest was “Human Connection.” Embracing your community, sitting with your family, talking to your friends and having a good relationship with your romantic partner were all very powerful factors in being happy, healthy and living a long life. The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.
Step 3: But don’t use people as your loneliness “treatment”
Ironically, if you only try to cure loneliness by constantly being around other people, this strategy will not work out in the long run, because in this case you are depending on others to take your loneliness away. What you need to do instead is to create a list of activities that you can do alone. Learn to enjoy yourself without having to depend on others for your happiness. Great things to do alone and in the comfort of your own home can include: Making a puzzle, playing games on your phone, knitting, painting, writing and so much more. The goal is to distract from the loneliness in a healthy way, rather than a co-dependent way.
Source: Gulf News