Loneliness - The Silent Struggle We All Feel

In this video, we'll explore the complexities surrounding loneliness and the challenges individuals face when trying to overcome it.

Loneliness, a profound and widespread concern, presents a significant hurdle for many individuals seeking connection. The paradox of loneliness lies in the struggle—those experiencing it often strive fervently to alleviate their isolation, yet finding meaningful connection remains elusive.

▼ Timestamps ▼
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01:42 The world is a More Stressful Place
03:05 Echo Chambers and Their Impact
04:41 What do we do about Loneliness?
06:39 Reach out to someone else for their sake
08:49 How do we get over our anxieties?
10:42 Some steps we can take
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DISCLAIMER

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All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.

#healthygamergg #mentalhealth #loneliness

[sinner]

The worst type of loneliness is the one you feel when you’re around other people you’re supposedly friends with.

[TheLemonsDidIt]

Being lonely doesn't feel like you have nobody, it feels like nobody has you.

[appleiou]

Reach out to someone else….. and get ignored😊

[coopdedooped]

I think a problem I deal with frequently is that, in my mind, I specifically DON’T reach out to people for their benefit. With anyone that isn’t a close friend, I feel like I am hijacking their time by talking to them. And by not initiating conversations with them, I avoid making them feel awkward or bored

[azizww]

What really sucks about being lonely is feeling that no one wants to spend time with you. Feeling that you are not interesting or worthy to be around other people. Just feeling that no matter what you do it’s not enough. This shit feels like a stab to the heart everyday

[kerb]

i was basically a shut-in hermit my first two years at uni and didn’t really realize how lonely and socially anxious I was until the middle of junior year. I’ve been putting a lot more effort since to socialize and try new events. I don’t think I’ll make any close friends here, which I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about, but I’m glad that I’m really trying now and I really feel more confident around others.

If you’re feeling like this, don’t start a regret spiral of I-should’ve-done-this, this is something you have to learn at your own pace, and you can always start today

[ShazyShaze]

I think Dr. K missed a very important caveat to the strategy of "reaching out to people for their sake." That being, people can sometimes be emotional sinkholes. They will receive this kind of helpful energy gladly, but then rarely offer any kind of energy in return. *Connection requires reciprocity.* If you surround yourself with people who do not match your effort in any way, then you don't actually build any connection with them. You just end up feeling even more lonely, even when you're with your "friends."

[bxnny]

My problem is, I give and give and give and never get anything back. I used to never think about myself just naturally; it never even occurred to me to question if other people would do the same for me when I needed it. But then I went through a horrific trauma, and no one supported me or was there for me at all. Now I’ve lost the ability to feel good about being selfless, because I just feel so resentful knowing that no matter what I do for them or how good I am, no one will ever do even a fraction of the same for me.

I still feel lonely sometimes, but mostly everything is just drowned out by hate. Most of the time I just feel nothing. I don’t know what the answer is to solving loneliness in a broken world where you can’t trust anyone to actually be there for you.

[Madchris]

I genuinely think one of the problems is that as a society we are so self centered we genuinely dont care about the people around us unless we are forced to. For me though often I don't even feel lonely, I feel out of place, like I am an alien anywhere I go to. Even social clubs where I know some of the people. Everyone else was given the secret knowledge to belong and here I am an Alien everywhere.

[MettaM]

I think loneliness is what happens when we are aching to see more of our selves authenticity reflected back to us instead of just the roles and image we put on

[eliasmalison]

"Sometimes the best way to solve your own problems, is to help someone else." ~Uncle Iroh

[MissPenguin]

I first heard of the concept of helping others to help ease your depression from a writer named Johann Hari while watching a random Joe Rogan clip of him. (I'm paraphrasing his story heavily here) He talked about a group of depressed people in group therapy getting together to plant a garden in the city. They started to enjoy each other's company, and if one didn't show up they would check in on them, hold them accountable etc. That story always stuck with me and I hold it close to this day. It feels like helping others is just...wired within us to help ease our own emotional burdans, like we are each others medicine for the particular problem of isolation and mental struggles. We try so desperately to run from it, but we are a social species after all.

[AmbientClassical]

Loneliness is honestly why I have such a YouTube addiction. Not a good place to be.

[killgriffinnow]

So many people online have tried to aggressively gaslight me into putting ALL the burden onto me whenever I bring up this issue, what you said at the start really resonated.

[jackiegerarde]

Find someone worse off than you and help them. That's what my husband said to me before he died. He said it was the best advice he could give me for the loneliness and pain he knew was coming. I didn't really get it or I didn't want to. About a year after he died I was tricked into taking over a widow grief group. I was pretty pissed but I did it. And it changed my life. I made forever friends and I helped others. Then someone offered to take over the group and I was a little sad but I didn't want to deny them. Selflessness is the path. I love these videos. They cut through the noise and show the truth. This is such an important topic.

[DNBota]

This just kills me. I know these comments are usually full of positive energy, but this just missed me completely. I reach out to people all the time, lately more than ever. I'm who my friends come to for advice, I'm always checking on people, I even became a professor and ended up loving it. I'm always thinking of them and what they could be going through. But in the end I'm always alone. They go on with their lives and I'm left in despair. And I know this is very common as well. Have heard many times of people that are super friendly, generous, always trying to help others, and suddenly you hear they killed themselves and can't figure out why, if they always seemed so cheerful. I'm hopeless :(

[mista_louie]

Reaching out to people for their sake eventually leads you to burnout though, talking from experience. That only works when other people reach out to you in return, and let me tell you almost no one does. Most people reach out for their own sake like you said.

[Gustmazz]

You know what's the scariest thing? A problem that you can't fix by yourself.

[michaelrivera]

I've been so lonely for so long I feel so desensitized and ignore it or bottle it; growing up with no social skills and the longing for connections and being with someone I suffer everyday but I lost feeling for so long I just try to help myself and find ways to go forward regardless how I am. Thank you for posting this, baby steps to getting myself to "catch up" while my old peers are enjoying life and independent.

[SuperSpectrom]

The tough thing about being lonely is that when you try to put yourself out there and join clubs/go to events, it is often difficult to start a new interaction with another person. Talking to them is easy but how do you invite yourself into their life, y'know? Conversely, most people don't tend to do things alone so you could be in a room with 20 people that all came with someone else and its even harder to talk to a group of people at the same time as one person. I have certainly self-isolated myself from other people due to habit but I also have tried to get myself out there too and its really hard.