It feels lonelier in this world. I often find myself people-watching, and I find that unless you’re in a grocery store, most people don’t want to be bothered talking. Maybe it’s because technology has made it so that our interactions with each other can be easily done through computers, cell phones, and even robots. Think about it, you can go into a store and check out by a computer without ever having to talk to a human. Such ways of living are causing more chances of feeling lonely.

Loneliness is a social isolation from what is around us. It impacts our health and increases the chances of disease. As people, we all look for social connections. It’s a fundamental human need that brings us a wish, a hope that we will feel a sense of belonging, empathy, and trust. Although being lonely isn’t all bad, and we can confuse being lonely with being alone, but there is a great difference between the two.

There will be times in our lives when we may feel alone at certain life stages. This is a crucial part of life and it can hold significant value. Unlike loneliness, which feels like you’re being deprived of interaction, being alone is empowering. Whether you’re alone or with others, aloneness is used to mindfully grow in your mindset. It represents freedom from being attached to objects or overwhelming circumstances. Being alone is an emotional attitude that stands apart from feeling lonely. Instead, being alone embraces a sense of wholeness. It allows for moments of solitude that foster inner peace and allow for introspections to move you forward, this includes decision-making. Being alone with your own thoughts can help you to enable mindful experiences. Those experiences can be anything from quiet self-reflection to engaging with others, or simply being present.

Being alone helps to give a balance to your emotional life and it involves being able to go between moments of loneliness and moments of being alone. It can integrate self-compassion with being able to find compassion for others. For some, embracing being alone helps to bring in solitude as a deliberate part of life. Understanding this way of living can empower you to cope with loss and to separate emotions so that your emotional well-being can be worked through, especially when going through regret and sadness.

Being alone is very different from feeling lonely, and many confuse the two to be the same. Being alone allows us to feel a social connection with others, even when we are taking time to reflect. It’s completely different than feeling lonely, where we feel total isolation. Now more than ever, feeling a social bond with others influences how we connect with others. If we are going to maintain being alone, we also need to know how to not feel lonely. That’s where investing in relationships and supporting others by expressing gratitude is so important. It allows for us to feel a sense of belonging and purpose ultimately develops within us. It also helps to limit the amount of social media use and seek support when feeling lonely. Being engaged and creating authentic relationships is essential in today’s world. It’s what is meant to be to not feel lonely. The aim is to create a flourishing world by strengthening social interactions with others by building resilience, even during those times when we feel less social. There is a difference between being lonely and being alone. When you’re alone, it’s time for that quiet and rejuvenation. When feeling lonely, seek out the connections of others. It’s a difference between taking time to invest in ourselves and taking time to invest in the people around us.