Loneliness…

In spite of my recent thoughts to write about family, especially before Christmas, in light of recent announcements I have changed my mind and decided to talk about loneliness.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that we all feel lonely at times, even when surrounded by people. Feeling lonely has risen significantly during the coronavirus pandemic and with the UK lockdown starting back in March, mental health industry professionals have become concerned on how it would affect the state of mind of thousands of people by being isolated from social interactions and ability to visit loved ones.

I do think it has affected the minds of many people, but overall the nation has done incredibly well by supporting each other, organising zoom events, video calls, baking, banana bread loafs in particular in my experience, clapping to NHS workers and trying to lift each others spirits.

We have all had dark times during this pandemic. Job losses, uncertainty, feeling like a prisoner in your own home… Thousands of people dying can make you feel very sad to say the least and like there is no hope.

On the bright side, people have had a chance to look within, reflect on themselves, their life choices, and to take the steps they never would have otherwise. Even amongst people I know, I see people taking different paths, myself included. New artists expressing themselves more with the extra time on their hands, not having the stress of catching that train in the morning and living on autopilot and relying on after work drinks to be able to cope with the rat race. Don’t get me wrong, socialising is great fun as it is important for our state of mind, and although I am a big supporter of hospitality industry, unfortunately many may have been having the drinks for other reasons.

How has your experience been? Do you feel lonely? How did you cope with the lockdown? What were the positives and negatives?

It will be very hard for a lot of people this Christmas but please remember, like the seasons this too shall pass, just like winter is followed by spring…

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter