“The time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself.” (Douglas Coupland)
I know there are a lot of people in the world who are currently struggling with loneliness, each dealing with it in various ways. While some of them channel that emptiness into healthy behaviors, others unfortunately often try to fill it with rather unhealthy ones instead. Lately, it seems as if I keep coming across a number of individuals who are doing more of the latter, most of them through engaging in increased levels of promiscuity. I can relate, as that is the precise outlet I once invested all my loneliness into. But in doing so, I also became spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically sick in the long run. The fact is, none of the sexual relations I ever had in that way helped to cure my loneliness at all. On the contrary, it usually did just the opposite, by only making me crave more of the same unhealthy behavior. It wasn’t until I spent enough time alone, learning to truly love myself and my own company, did any of this change. And when I did, I started feeling a lot less lonely in the world, but even better, I stopped having the desire to fill any void I still experienced with any unhealthy behavior.
“I pray that I may have the courage to spend time alone and learn to love myself and my own company a lot more in life. And I pray that in the meantime, I stop trying to fill any emptiness I feel within through behaviors that aren’t of my highest, greatest good.”
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson