All the Lonely People

Breaking Free From Isolation

By Gail Goolsby

“I moved across the country to be closer to my extended family, because I thought I would see them often,” reported a retired widow, “I miss my friends.”

“I talk with people all day for my customer service work, but I don’t have any close relationships for hanging out nights and weekends.”

What exactly is going on when someone says, “I’m lonely”?

More Than Being Alone

Solitude isn’t the only contributor to loneliness. People can be lonely, even among people, like a college student, soldier, or stay-at-home mom. Loneliness is a feeling, a state of mind that occurs repeatedly.

It is not the number of relationships that satisfies our craving for human contact, but the quality of them. When distanced from hometown friends and family, our work and community connections can feel shallow. We don’t feel known, since our personal history is not part of the new relationships.