The psychologists advice to prevent loneliness
- Loneliness is a part of life. Everyone has a social responsibility to actually see each other, but remember that in the end it is up to YOU to make contact with your surroundings, says Kristin Maute, psychologist at SSN Health at campus Vestfold.
The psychologists ten best advice to prevent loneliness:
Make a positive use of the feeling of loneliness! This feeling is telling you something important: I need someone, and I miss that right now.
Dare to stand up straight in what is uncomfortable by sharing and letting people around you know how you really feel.
Dare to make yourself visible - jump into it! If we are afraid of rejection, we often avoid social settings, which again makes us feel left out and lonely.
Say yes to the good relations in your life. It is better to have one close friend than being friends with lots of people and still feeling lonely. Loneliness is a result of how close our relations are.
Search for repeating faults in your mind and reveal them. Are you a person who thinks: What will others think about me? Remember that these thoughts are yours, and not what others think of you. Thoughts are not dangerous, and they are not true.
Accept that living comes with a "risk"! You have no guarantees and life is full of rejections. We have to dare receiving a "no" once in a while, to get a "yes".
Dare to be good to yourself. We are good at criticizing our selves for all that we could have done better in life. The problem is that we only make ourselves feel worse doing so.
Do not compare yourself to others! You will only see what others have that you don't. As the famous quote by Oscar Wilde states: "Be yourself - everyone else is already taken".
Stop being a perfectionist and lower the requirements for yourself. You won't automatically become a slob by doing so.
Dare to smile! Smiling at someone is one of the most effective things you can do to them. It will always start something within the person you smile to!
Did you know that the brain immediately frees dopamin and endorfines when you smile - even if the smile is not spontaneous?
We all have a common responsibility:
Dare to invite others! Dare to care! Dare to encourage others to join in! A smile is a small gesture with a great value.
Is this too hard? Try again. The "dare-muscle" needs excercise. Still difficult?
Contact the counselling service at SSN, we are here to help!
This article is inspired by a similar article published in Aftenposten.