1. I guess the best way I could describe loneliness for me would be a sense of disconnection from others.
2. Loneliness feels like disconnection, sadness, and emptiness, but it also triggers a sense of hopelessness for the future, causes other issues to feel way more overwhelming, and brings about feelings of distress where I am frantically trying to find something to fill the void. It has a negative effect on my mental wellbeing, and I can also feel the physical effects like impact on my sleep.
3. In general, I feel most lonely in the night time. Across the year, my loneliness tends to show up more at times when the opportunities I usually rely on for interaction/connection aren’t happening for whatever reason, like when the people I live with are away, when my hobbies aren’t running, or when I go too long without seeing my psychologist.
4. Mostly I end up just trying to deal with the loneliness as it happens by doing things like posting on social media, engaging with familiar/comforting content, and sharing my thoughts with my journal, though the sense of connection these bring isn’t as much or as meaningful as I necessarily need or want. One thing I suppose I do to manage the loneliness proactively is to try and minimise the length of time between my psychologist appointments.
