I feel like isolating myself, but deep inside I am very lonely. What do I do?

Why do you feel so lonely inside? Perhaps you need a period of self reflection. Loneliness is often a cry for help and you probably really need yourself right now. You are not "isolating" yourself in a negative way, simply caring for you first. That way you can be the best you for you, and those you care about. Try to extend yourself more to those around you but don't feel pressured. Be patient with yourself and let things flow.

Push yourself to interact! We all need social contact and support. Start with something small like a phone call and move on to meeting with people face-to-face. Make plans and DON'T cancel them. If you keep isolating yourself you'll get more lonely and want to isolate more and it will turn into a vicious cycle. CONNECT with someone!

Loneliness means you are in desperate need of yourself. Please, put yourself first and love yourself. It takes time but you will be glad you did this for yourself.

I have an idea! Based on my personal experience, I would get this feeling many times as well. I suggest telling your friends and family you are taking time to meditate. Then, actually listen to calming soothing sounds for as long as you like. There are also many guided meditations available online. Meditation can help in so many ways. It gives you time to yourself, clarity, time to focus on breathing, and overall finding inner peace. I highly recommend practicing this. Another suggestion is to have a day or two to yourself watching movies, focusing on yourself and whatever you want to do. Either one should help you fulfil that desire to be to yourself and then coming back to speaking with others with more clarity and feeling good about yourself.

I do isolate myself a lot, feeling sorry for myself and feeling lonely all the time. I try to get out of my room and sit outside for once. Sometimes I go on walks. And sometimes I try to out of my way to find a friend who'd like to hang out. Or I come online to try to talk to strangers about it. But it's really different for every person. You can even vent it out in a journal or something. That helps.

We may feel like isolating when you feel vulnerable, cumbersome or ashamed, or tired. Finding someone who you can feel safe with, just to spend some quiet time together, or for the person just to listen, nod, and reassure you, can be comforting, an equilibrium between connection, in the form of listening, and isolation (in the form of not having to hear anything if you don't want to). Often loneliness doesn't come from being alone, but from our thoughts. Thoughts of being different, of not being wanted, if abandonment, of not belonging, of being a fraud, or otherwise unappetizing or undesirable.

It’s ok, take a few days for yourself but make sure it doesn’t become a habit go take to your neighbors classmates even to you parents about how your day was this will help brighten your mood.If you can’t pull your self off o do it push your self into the sun where u can be reborn it will help make new friends or talk to old ones make a bucket list and keep your self busy if not u will end up lost in your thoughts which will not lead to a good thing ok take great care :)

Many a times I have found myself in this situation and still am. I isolate myself and it seemed decent enough so stick to it was what I thought but I had friends who did not leave me. None of them know how I feel but it was supportive to have them by my side even when I tried to isolate myself from them. So if you have a friend that is isolating themselves from people but is lonely, do not leave them. Stick to them like glue and stay by their side. It helps

You should try to meet new people even if your nervous to do so, it will really help your lonelness.

Do both, isolate yourself to gather your thoughts but do it when you relax, but then find others to talk to so you don't feel so alone.

I would say perhaps you should start out by seeking out others with similar interests. Perhaps go for a nice walk or visit the local library.

I understand. I have gone through that too. Try making a goal to make one friend a day. It will help more than you think.

I can't say have a specific answer that will tell you why or what you may do for resolution. I know personally that I don't know of almost anyone who I know who doesn't become lonely at occassional times. As someone who has gotten an introverted title from personality tests I think it's common personally to want to surround myself with people occassionally even if alone time is something that is ideal for me to settle down for the day. I think one thing I've thought over the years is to consider why I want to be alone or spend time around people. Do I hope to spend time helping others or perhaps spend time with them? Is it solely at work for me or also when I'm off work? What does this mean for my friend and what can I offer them in return for their time? Do I feel a void to serve others in my community? Perhaps do I want to give company? Do I feel like self isolating to avoid something? Do I need to change friends circles and am I looking for community or friendship?Some people I know have joined groups, played sports, or even volunteered. Some people at my church seem to gain a lot of connection with each other too. I think isolating does sometimes concern me in my own life if I dont know why or if its used for avoiding an issue but I never felt that I have gone to long without trying to occassionally speak with others. I know this may not fully answer your question in a specific manner but I hope it can offer thoughts on the experience.

A lot of the time we isolate ourselves as a form of self-protection. It's ok to do that, especially in situations where it is an effective strategy for protection. The fact that you feel lonely highlights a need for connection while also indicating a deep fear of being harmed by other people, whether emotionally, physically or otherwise. So if your immediate environment is not helping you feel safe it helps to remember that there are people you can find outside of it who can make you feel seen and secure. That could be counselors and teacher if you are in school or university, workplace therapists and advisors if you are working, online communities, people in your extended circle who feel trustworthy etc. Take it slow, but remember, there are people around you who care.

We've felt this; most of us. You feel like sitting away in your room, listening to your favourite music, blanket wrapped around you. I get it. But at the same time, we all crave attention and love, friendship and cuddles, I think the music helps, go ahead and relax in your blanket with your music blasting, but don't forget to come here for a chat, phone a close friend, parental figure, adult or even just relatives you're comfortable with, if you can, ask them to go shopping, to watch a movie, or ask about a book you know they read. Other people worry about these things too, they will be happy to be invited somewhere, even if they cant make it. Its important to remember that we are all a little overwhelmed at times :).

Deep inside everyone is alone.The best part of our life is we being our best version inside,So don't feel bad for these things,Try to connect externally and maintain that lonely self inside.

We do experience unhappiness when we feel unwanted and we want to make a place for ourselves by covering up ourselves under the impression we are not dependent on anybody for affection to prove that we are strong and worthy of being respected but in reality we don't want to be left alone the best option here would be to try talking to someone who seems to care and we are comfortable with but still one has to maintain some ego to feel respected and one has to be knowledgeable for supporting the ego factor.

A few years back, I had a similar feeling. I'll just share what I did to help myself. 1.) I distanced myself form social media, no more uploads and very few feed check (once a few days or week) 2.) Spend a lot of time with nature, like going to garden or sitting beside river, or as simple as sitting in open gazing at the sky (especially at night, it's beautiful) 3.) Be in touch with person who really matters and cares for you, meet them in person. 4.) Talk to yourself, this sounds silly but helps a lot. Understand what's going on with you, if it helps write about it in a diary. At first it might come as difficult, but eventually you'll become bestfriend with yourself and you'll start enjoying being with yourself. 5.) Meditation helps, being self aware helps, focusing on your breaths helps. 6.) Lastly, if you can spend time with animals, that would be great. I used to feed stray dogs and spend time with them, I started with 1 and by the end of month I was feeding and sitting with some 20-30 dogs. The amount of love they shower in you, it's amazing. They will heal you. All the best buddy, I know you can make it, Have great day, Stay awesome and keep smiling It's free and it looks good on you :)

Break free from that feeling of wanting to be alone. Talk to somebody, in the long run you will be rewarded with happiness.

Ask your family members for opinions and advice. Their experience can be helpful. Don't be afraid of judgement and criticism.

Feeling like isolating yourself often seems like the natural reaction when we feel lonely, but it can often send us into a spiral. If i'm feeling too drained to have full interaction with other people, i often talk to online friends. You could try and find an online community/sub-community of nice people with similar interests. Chances are, you'll make at least 1 new friend and learn something new! If that's not really your jam, maybe try and reconnecting with old friends. Sometimes my best friend and I want company but feel to drained to actually interact, so we often facetime without talking or hang out at each others houses without talking, just simply because the other person's presence is comforting. Good luck!

Ask yourself exactly what you're lonely for. Company? Interaction? Advice? Perspective? Entertainment? Boredom-Relief? What exactly do you want from other people that you're not able to get alone? Could you get those things alone? Then do it! It's great to have a caring supportive network of friends but it's also great to have have a lot of things you like to do that don't require others to do them. Also, ask yourself if you really like the people you know and want to be around them in the first place. If not, then you're really not lonely, right? If you don't particularly like the people you currently know, then you have to find people you actually want to be around. Then, you might have to figure out what you may need to change about yourself if people you like don't want to be around you.

Try talking to someone about these feelings. Even if it's on here, don't let yourself slip into isolation. Friends, family, anonymous listeners... Someone is bound to want to help you. If no one will be there out in the real world, please keep in mind that we are here too! A listener is always available and ready to talk if you need to. Please feel better! :)

I understand how you feel, I've felt something close to that. You want to isolate and distance yourself but you are truly quite lonely. It seems you're scared. I believe you should trust in yourself and spend some time with yourself. I'm not here to give advice, unfortunately, but I believe this is something you will conquer! Loneliness is one of the worst feelings in the world and it can be very suffocating. You are a great and beautiful person and someone hasn't seen that yet! Sometimes being brave is very helpful, who knows where it will lead you?

it is great to spend some you time but not too much you time, do stuff when you feel ready too no need to rush!

Hello there! I'm glad you've found the 7Cups community :) If you find you're not ready for real communities, you can try out virtual communities based on your hobbies first. Once you're slowly comfortable with that, then you can start trying to meet people one on one. And then from there proceed to group gatherings :) Always take time for yourself and make yourself comfortable before you move on :)

I can really hear that you have this need to withdraw from forming and connections with other people but internally you feel you need people to connect with. You might want to ask yourself what loneliness means for you. Is it about lacking relationships or having none or is it about people not holding you in as high regard as you hold them? Ask yourself if you are feeling left out in anyway in your friendships, family relations or work relations. Another interesting question to ask yourself can be what is triggering yourself to what to isolate? People can be disinclined to interact with others because they have been bullied in the past or it may have something to do with upbringing. What people who have this sense of loneliness tend to turn to working on becoming content with oneself. Getting to know yourself through developing hobbies and interests can give you the satisfaction. Through this you can make discoveries about yourself, what you like and what you dislike. Your thoughts and feelings can be expressed through other reflective ways such as journal writing or writing in a diary. Mindfulness is another medium teaching breathing techniques as well as inner acceptance of the essence of you. Ask yourself your thoughts about self-care and the people you associate with and what they mean for your own mental health. Thing of those things or people you appreciate and are grateful for in your life. Recognition of what makes you tick and what satisfies you can be unraveled in ways in which you do not know. This feeling of loneliness can come in different shapes and forms and there are different ways to overcome this. Your welcome to reach out to one of our listeners for further support or one of our therapists, some of which who have identified with feeling lonely. Thank you so much for reaching out and I hope you get the support you need.

If you feel like isolating yourself you must do it. And if you are lonely you must try to embrace yourself more and try to enjoy your company. I know isolation is needed at times, so take your time to get yourself together. Its ok to not socialize for a brief time. Every one had their private bubble. When you had enough time to sort things out you can find yourself in a group to break the lonely crystal. You know that's the magic. You can do whatever you want, only potion needed is to give some efforts and follow your heart. And the main key is LOVE YOURSELF. :) I HOPE YOU SORT THINGS AND FIND HAPPINESS

It's never good to isolate yourself completely. Maybe you just need more alone time, and more time with friends at the same time. For example spend a few days a week doing things that make you happy, whether it's reading, gaming or photography, let yourself be happy with your own company. But then a few days a week also see friends, talk to people, surround yourself with people who positively impact your life and you will find being alone, and being with other people much easier :)

For me, when I felt like this, the thing that helped was pushing myself outside. I was in college so it was easier to find spaces where I could sit on a bench outside, doing my own thing, while also not feeling as lonely as when I had shut myself in my room. Getting the fresh air, seeing and listening to people, really helped me refocus myself and my energy. I felt less lonely while being alone, and that feeling of being alone became one of reflection rather than judgment. I wish I had been able to do that more often, talking myself out of wanting to isolate. It helped immensely.