AGE GROUP-15-30 years

LONELINESS AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH

“LOVE”

We love our parents, children, siblings, husband/wife, friends.

Our heart reaches out to them. If they are in pain, we can feel it, if they are ecstatic and happy, we end up jumping with joy as if it was our own experience.

Seldom realising that it is our love for them that is making us feel what they are feeling.

We mirror their emotions as if they were our own.

Our life, be it directly or indirectly, revolves around them.

Imagining even a day without them feels impossible.

In fact, thinking that someday they won’t be around is unimaginable.

But….

There’s always this “but”.

Life sometimes has something else in store for us. A heartbreaking surprise. And not at all a good one.

For some of us there comes a day when we wake up in the morning and go to their room, or turn to their side of the bed and see that they are not there anymore.

Gone.

Dead.

Vanished from the face of earth like they never existed.

Our whole world comes crumbling down.

As if our life was just a dream till now.

And desperately wanting to go back to sleep and freezing time to relive the dream over and over again, and never waking up.

But life moves on. And we move forward. With this heavy baggage on our shoulders.

But it is not the same.

We feel alone. Lonely.

Suddenly that one person we could turn to for advice, comfort, companionship, a sense of belonging, is gone. The person who would turn to us and smile, hold our hands and just sit beside us and talk, is gone.

Leaving us feeling lonely and miserable.

Like we are not loved and no one cares about us.

You move on with your life, but there is this one feeling that creeps in, when you are out, at work, at college, in school or with your friends and family. And it makes you feel alone. Like there is no one for you in this world anymore.

You buy a pair of jeans and turn back for approval, but nobody is there…. A void that can't be filled. Suddenly shopping, which you once enjoyed becomes a task.

Activities that were once our favourite and pleasurable no longer interest us anymore.

Some of us want to interact with people, but don't know how to, others, even in the presence of people feel so alone.

A part of us is stolen. It dies the day we lose that person, and things never go back to being the same, no matter how much of effort you put in it. And sometimes, putting that effort is not an option we think we deserve or maybe even give ourselves.

From there starts the journey of living a lonely life. A world that is created that we are unable to walk out of.

HOW ARE WE GOING TO HELP YOU?

It is this loneliness that we would like to address in our support group.

A sense of loneliness that we try to shrug off our shoulders, but it sits there, tightly holding on to us. Leaving us feeling weak, incapable of taking a step forward.

Loneliness that sometimes we are successful at packing in a bag and keeping it away, only to see it waiting at our doorstep when we return.
What are the support group’s objectives?
This support group will help empower you to understand and become aware of your strengths.

It will help you in dealing with closed emotions and guide you on how to deal with your challenges.

And most importantly, it will give you an open & safe space to pour your heart out and rebuild a sense of self.

PHYSICAL IMPACT OF LONELINESS

We all know what loneliness feels like and how it can really wear us down like a fever. But there lies a major difference between the two. Unlike fever loneliness does not subside giving us time to recuperate.

Loneliness makes us feel like our body is under attack, causing an immediate and severe bodily reaction. It increases blood pressure and cholesterol, and activates our physical and psychological stress responses. Over a prolonged period of time this increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases because the body is under constant and unrelenting stress.

Loneliness causes our immune system to function less efficiently, which over time, puts us at an increased risk of developing all kinds of illnesses and diseases. Even brief bouts of loneliness impacts our immune system.

If grief is left unaddressed it could lead to depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or prolonged grief.

Researches have shown that 40% of bereaved people suffer from some kind of anxiety disorder in the first year of their loss and there can be up to 70% increase in the death risk of the surviving spouse within the first 6 months after the death of the partner.

WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC?

In life each one of us has come with our own share of struggles. And this is the struggle that I relate to, only because this has been my struggle for the past decade.

Something that I felt I could never come out of and frankly speaking, was scared to, scared to forget, scared of being happy as I felt that my happiness invited sadness along with it. I had withdrawn and felt that this is the way of life. All the decisions of my life were based upon this one tragedy that I faced. That is what my life revolved around.

Now that I have been able to overcome my loneliness and still am able to cherish the memory of my loved one, I believe that it is something that can be experienced by others as well. Then why keep this power of healing just with myself? Why not share it with others?

Sometimes we ourselves don't realise the power that lies within us. I would like us to explore this power in each one of us together, with the help of this support group.