Covid-19 Undesired side effect is isolating lonely people even more...

[Finished]

I had a message on Facebook from a friend saying that she and her husband were enjoying having more time together now because of the virus and I replied saying that
I really miss not seeing anyone and she signed off. Made me feel like crap.

Sorry, but I just laughed out loud. Ha! ha! "I have someone special in my life. Oh crap! You don't. Time to ghost you!" 

That was really nice of her. She seems like a great person.

The only friends you can rely on are the ones you make up in your own head. Well, until you become senile. Then even those friends will ghost your ass. Ha! Ha!

Well, not necessarily. If you're senile and your new friends ghost you, there's always new friends that end up popping in. 

Isn't that right, mr. Toaster Oven? You bet it is! 
;-)

Ha! ha! Good point! Maybe loosing our minds isn't such a bad thing after all.

 

[MarciKS]

I too have been struggling with this. It's like being imprisoned in your home except I get to go to work where the sick people are going to.

 

[Barbie25]

I feel lonely even when I am in the underground surrounded with hundreds of people. I am starting to think 
that it is not about being alone. Loneliness is something deeper.

 

[Cosmicsleeper]

....

 

[Tiina63]

I feel lonely even when I am in the underground surrounded with hundreds of people. I am starting to think 
that it is not about being alone. Loneliness is something deeper.

Partly, in my case, it is caused by being alone, but I also often feel lonely with others when I have to hide my real thoughts and feelings

 

[I'm Fine]

I've noticed that I actually feel more lonely when I'm with people. When I'm alone, I don't expect companionship but when people - especially family who are supposed to care about you - are around, then I do. And that's when I feel lonely. For me, at least, it's to do with expectations. I'm trying to manage them but some days are harder than others.

 

[Cucuboth]

I feel lonely even when I am in the underground surrounded with hundreds of people. I am starting to think 
that it is not about being alone. Loneliness is something deeper.

Yes, it is. I have been in a stadium with tens of thousands of people, everyone cheering and making noise, but I still felt completely and utterly lonely. Same goes for one time going to a public NYE event, and at midnight people counted down and cheered, jumped around hugging each other, strangers kissed strangers ... but it was happening all around me, and I felt absolutely invisible. 

I guess it is different for everyone, but for me, loneliness is a lack of connection, both emotionally and physically. It is a lack of conversation, and a lack of touch. A lack of anyone to share doing things with. A lack of affection, both being allowed to give and receive.

 

[ABrokenMan]

That is it - loneliness defined!
Well, it defines it for me.

 

[MarciKS]

Something I've been pondering these last few days, as I sit at home currently alone, on temporary unemployment and waiting for either a job application to pan out or unemployment money to fonally kick in, while reading the news and making the mistake of walking into a wallmart and almost being trampled by old ladies stocking up on toilet paper like its Zombieland.

I worry this whole isolation deal is counter productive in the face of a virus whose progression so far indicates itll be as part of the future landscape as the common flu is, with only slightly more elevated a death rate in the usual more vulnerable portion of individuals, but it seems its only driving people away from each other and more into isolation than together.

Am I the only one feeling this....and fearing this a LOT more than any viruses themselves?

a. i'm old but i don't trample and i don't hoard. lol!
b. i too am concerned about being forced to stay in like prisoners in our own homes. no more visiting someone or giving a hug or having
coffee together. it sucks. i wonder how many lives this will take before it's over.

 

[manlock]

Look for the good in others: These types of crises can bring out both the worst and the best in human nature.
This week there were two Youtube clips that went viral in Australia about toilet paper. One was of three grown women fighting in Woolworths over a packet of toilet paper. The other was two young children dragging a large cart of toilet paper behind them and stopping at the homes of elderly people in their neighbourhood to give them a roll. I like to think that the best in human nature is rising to the coronavirus challenge. Philanthropists are donating money to scientists to find a cure. Doctors and medical staff are working overtime to help sick patients.

Neighbourhoods are putting together care packages for people who are sleeping rough. People are posting positive messages on social media. Friends from across the globe reaching out to each other.

When we tune into these positive and pro-social aspects of the crisis, we are united in hope.

 

[blackdot]

I dread my company deciding to announce they are going to let everyone work from home forever. I could see them trying something stupid like that. Going to work is my social life. Right now I'm stuck at home all the time by myself.
Not only are people less productive at home, but they are also less communicative. At first people chatted on the group chats but that quickly died down and now no one talks to anyone else.

I end up just going outside all the time to talk to the lizards and birds and just letting the phone calls for work ring till they roll over to someone else.