5 Ways To Combat Loneliness

Social distancing may well be the new normal for the foreseeable future. For some of us, that means the only human contact we’re getting is with the masked woman behind the Perspex screen at the supermarket till and the UberEats delivery guy. And he just leaves your order at the door and dashes back to his car! Here’s how to fight off feelings of loneliness.

- Charis Torrance

Billions of people around the world have gone without social interaction for an extended period for the first time. Some have only their pet for company (which, in some cases could be a stand-offish cat) and, with many losing their jobs or working remotely, we don’t even have that ‘Workin’ hard or hardly working?’ small talk with colleagues to fall back on.

‘We’re born with a need for connection,’ says Carien Hugo-Waring, a Rapid Transformational Therapy practitioner. ‘As infants, we need our caretakers to survive; as adults, we’re still wired that way and can’t survive without connection.’ Which makes it ironic that while technology has made us more connected, there are still so many lonely people. And while many introverts are thriving, Carien says extroverts may be finding this time challenging. ‘Extroverts often need interaction with others to energize them.’

With so much time on our hands, alone with our thoughts, it can be easy to feed feelings of isolation and loneliness with negative social media and binge-watching pandemic films. Instead, Carien says, we need to fuel our passions. ‘Do something you love, and feed your mind with good, positive things and self-care.’

1. Reach out to others