Lonely

Does anyone here ever feel lonely...even if you have people in your life? I often feel that there is no one who truly knows me....and this is a pretty lonely feeling...

Yes I know exactly what you are talking about. I'm so sorry you feel that way.

Absolutely! I can be in a room full of people I know, and still feel lonely. Weird, isn't it?

There can be people who know you, and then there are people who KNOW you, if you get what I mean. The only person who REALLY knew me -- my best friend -- died a few months ago and I miss her terribly.

So, we have to try to fill our lives with other things. Perhaps join clubs, or volunteer, or develop some hobbies.

I'm so sorry about your friend. I can't imagine what
that would be like, though I did lose my father and other family members.

I do have a few close friends, I'm married and my mother lives many miles away. My friend knows more about me than my wife does. And still...I feel terribly alone. I wish I could make sense of it. I often reflect on the past...people who I hurt...people and places I've been. And I know I should feel joy for things I've been fortunate to have experienced, instead I feel loss...those days are gone, these things won't happen again. People have moved on....and I feel this collective loss. I wish I could enjoy my life now and not feel do alone.

Every. Day.

I actually posted the following on Facebook yesterday - A friend once told me that he's tired of feeling lonelier in a crowd than he is by himself. And I get that.

I suppose what's strange is that I do enjoy my time alone. I like my solitude. But there are times when I need support, and I just don't feel like I can ask for it. I don't usually feel that people get me. There are times when I don't get me...when I don't like myself - and those are the times when I need others, but never feel like I can ask them to be there for me. Not even my husband.

Loneliness is a state or a feeling that I personally feel is too often misunderstood. Being surrounded by friends does not mean it goes away...

I identify with a lot of what's been posted in this thread. I have a great partner, loving friends and family, an enormous support network, appointments and groups and meetings, and still sometimes I feel completely alone in this life. Honestly part of it is our human condition. There is a part of ourselves we can never completely share - our inner world - and so there is a level of removal from everyone else. But also I think everyone has their own deal going on and it's easy to get preoccupied into thinking I'm the only one with problems or issues. I do it all the time. I think I'm all alone in my struggle...until I open up to someone else about it and they confide about theirs as well.

I identify with feeling lonely despite people being around me. Then again I have a husband who refuses to educate himself on the issues of bi-polar, and denies having any feelings about my son's autism.

I don't often feel lonely. I have friends I spend time with and I enjoy being by myself. That said, however, I often feel as if I am alone. I don't feel like I have anyone I can really lean on or who will share some of the burden of my illnesses and life circumstances with me. Does that make sense?

That completely makes sense. That is a better way to put how I feel too. Alone...yet surraounded by people. And, I'm trying not to be morbid or depressing, but I blame myself for this. Somebody once told me to love my own company more than anyone else's. After 41 years I'm still working on thlso it is tiring to wear different masks all the time - this is me at work, this is me being relaxed with a friend, this is me sleeping on the sofa to avoid an argument with my wife, this is me on the phone with my mother talking but not really saying anything important. Then I go grocery shopping and see couples and families, and convince myself their lives are better than mine...and that I know someday I will die alone in a nursing home. Th re ...that's how I feel. I think I'm depressed..even though I go through the motions every day pretty well.