{"id":14228,"date":"2023-11-13T11:24:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T19:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/?p=14228"},"modified":"2023-11-13T11:12:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T19:12:17","slug":"feeling-lonely-should-inspire-us-to-connect-but-often-it-does-the-opposite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.childabusesurvivor.net\/reviews\/2023\/11\/13\/feeling-lonely-should-inspire-us-to-connect-but-often-it-does-the-opposite\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeling Lonely Should Inspire Us to Connect, But Often It Does the Opposite"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reading this article recently, (How loneliness changes the way our brains process the world<\/a>), and much like the author states, the feeling of being lonely should act much like other instinctual feelings. Similar to when our bodies need nourishment and we feel hungry, or when we feel scared it’s a push to protect ourselves, or when feeling irritated is our brain telling us that something needs to change, etc. feeling lonely should be the reminder that we are better when we are in community with other people. But, it doesn’t always work that way.<\/p>\n

Social relationships are crucial, providing safety, resources, opportunities to have children, and so on. The fact that we find the feeling of loneliness so unpleasant often motivates us to reconnect<\/a> with others, bringing with it all of these benefits.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not as simple as that. Feeling lonely can also induce social withdrawal and types of negative thinking, which can make it harder to connect with people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The tricky part is that we aren’t so simple. Yes, feeling lonely should push us to want to connect, but it also opens us up to all of the internal thoughts we have about why we are alone instead of connected to our community. Wanted to reach out connect means fighting all the negative thoughts. For me, those look like:<\/p>\n