Contents:
- Medical Video: 5 Steps to Overcome Loneliness & Social Isolation TODAY
- 1. Be honest with yourself
- 2. Realize that loneliness can be resisted
- 3. Make a plan to fight loneliness
- 4. Caring for pets
- 5. Reduce the use of social media
Medical Video: 5 Steps to Overcome Loneliness & Social Isolation TODAY
Almost all humans have felt lonely. Apparently, excessive loneliness and protracted will affect the health of the body. Therefore, you must be smart to find ways to overcome loneliness and live more optimistically. However, what is the best way to overcome loneliness? Following are the tips.
1. Be honest with yourself
Many people instinctively try to run away from loneliness. Some people deny that they are lonely and try to divert it by sleeping all day, watching TV, and a variety of other things. Busy yourself without accepting that you really feel lonely will not be successful. It might work, but only for a moment, not as a long-term solution.
The emptiness that you feel will continue to penetrate the deepest niche if you keep running and denying it. The study written by Ami Rokach states that self-acceptance and reflection are one way to change the negative impact of loneliness into something more positive.
What needs to be reflected in order to overcome loneliness? Among them is the reason you feel lonely, for example because the people around you seem to be very happy and have their own busyness, while you are feeling down. Then, find out also what kind of situation or time that usually triggers loneliness. An example is when you go home from school, campus, or office and no one is welcoming.
From there, you will learn to improve your outlook on your life and slowly repel loneliness in your heart.
2. Realize that loneliness can be resisted
When feeling lonely, the sign is something that triggers your memory of painful, frightening, and emptiness that makes you feel alone. The brain is designed to pay attention to pain and danger, including fearful and painful feelings. Therefore, when you feel lonely, the brain sends a signal that makes it dominate your feelings.
However, you must realize immediately that basically loneliness is an emotional state that actually arises from within you based on your own perception. You can fight loneliness, don't just wait until the situation improves itself.
3. Make a plan to fight loneliness
After you accept and realize everything about loneliness that you experience, it's time to make a plan to fight and overcome that loneliness.
Sometimes, a cure for loneliness is simple. For example, sitting relaxed with your mother while drinking tea and chatting about your current worries and concerns. Even though you meet family members every day, maybe all you need is quality time together, without any disturbance at all, to be able to drive away loneliness.
If the people closest to you don't support, try to "spread your wings". For example, by joining a new community, taking a skills course so you can meet new people, orventwith a therapist.
4. Caring for pets
Some studies suggest that pets can be fun friends for loners. A study conducted found the fact that maintaining a dog can help someone reduce the risk of premature death, especially in people who live alone. These people who live alone are the group of people most at risk of experiencing loneliness which can lead to certain health problems.
In addition, other studies also state that pet owners have better social and communication skills. In addition, they are also more actively involved in activities in the community. A 2016 study also revealed that older adults who cared for pets experienced a decrease in depression and improved cognitive function within 8 weeks of the start of the experiment.
However, also pay attention to your capacity. Do not carelessly adopt or maintain animals as entertainment. You also have to take care of it, raise it, feed it, and meet all your pet's needs.
5. Reduce the use of social media
A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that social media users actually make you feel more lonely. Social media creates the impression that you are in a relationship, but it is actually the opposite.
In Alone Together's book, social psychologist Sherry Turkle argues that there is hyperconconnection through social media that makes a person more alienated from each other in real life. Helena Backlund Wasling from the State University of New York's Upstate Medical University at Sycaruse states that direct and face-to-face contact is far better than contact on social media because basically humans need physical touch to feel comforted and connected.
