Lonely vs Alone

For the last several days I have not spent much time at night. Instead I have been spending time with other people. While spending time with other people I felt the need to just have a minute to relax at home, but when I have been at home I have really wanted to be out with people. I think I am starting to get down to the root of why being alone makes me feel lonely.

First, I would like to state the difference between lonely and alone. Lonely is the feeling of being sad because you are alone. So while lonely and alone may seem the same, being alone does not always mean that you are lonely.

So why do I think I am lonely when I am alone? I believe that I feel the need for validation from others when I am alone, but because I am alone I am not able to get that. So ultimately, I think I would prefer to be relaxing alone, but my mind tells me I want to be with other people because I am craving that validation.

Why do I feel the need for validation? I think I seek this validation because I do not like myself. According to an article from Ilene Strauss on www.psychologytoday.com, this need for external validation can be overcome by becoming confident in who you are and by becoming the person you want to be. I am going to try to accomplish this by evaluating my choices and asking if they reflect who I want to be. I am also going to work on becoming more confident with myself by reflecting on the things I like about myself.

I came to the realizations above by journaling to try to find the root cause of my issues. I highly encourage you to take up journaling to really go deep with your thoughts and get down to the bottom of why you may feel the way you do.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you as much as it helped me to write it!