Feeling lonely? - Psychology
Have you been feeling lonely? It would be surprising if those feelings had not come up for anyone reading this post right now. Loneliness is a normal and adaptive emotion to have. It lets us know that we are not getting something that we need – that is a connection to other people. Unfortunately however, if we have to socially isolate, there is often less we can do practically speaking to combat those feelings of loneliness. We have all had to adapt to living quite different lives from the lives we had led before. As such, below are some things that might help us to connect with other people in different ways than we had done before, to help us to cope with our new normal
• Find a way to see your friends digitally. Some options are: Netflix party – a chrome extension that lets you watch Netflix at the same time as your friends, Discord – a tool that lets you play games with your friends, or one of the many video chat software tools available like Zoom, Facetime and Skype.
• Make sure you check in with the people you do already live with more than before to make sure they are okay and let them check in with you too.
• Find pleasant and attention-grabbing distractions like arts and crafts or online yoga
• Call an old relative, they are likely feeling lonely too
• If you need immediate support, Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) and Lifeline (13 11 14) are always available
If your child is experiencing feelings of loneliness that they would like to talk about, reach out to one of our friendly psychologists at (02) 8544 1483 or email at info@kidsinspired.com.au.
