Loneliness is forced solitude

The current pandemic has us facing one of our biggest fears: staying alone, dealing with our own emotions and thoughts. However, this situation has also a great deal of advantages. While in self-isolation, we can use this time to improve ourselves by discovering new hobbies or just developing skills we have already gathered, cultivating our mind through reading. In fewer words, we finally have the time to learn how to deal with ourselves. And this is always a good thing.

As difficult as it may seem, self-isolation has its benefits. When spending your time alone, the key to handle this situation is to find a purpose in your suffering. In other words, focus on why your suffering is doing good to others as well as to yourself. Furthermore, the fact that you stick to a certain routine or that
everybody is doing the same thing provides you not only with a meaning, but also with a sense of belonging.

1. Resilience comes automatically to most of us.
2. It is part of a set of skills and behaviours and not a standalone concept.
3. Resilience is not an individual trait or quality, but dependent on many contextual factors like one’s upbringing, social factors and health conditions.
4. It is not a static concept but a flowing, dynamic process based on our life cycle and external conditions.
5. Resilience does not make a person a superhuman being, and the journey of suffering, misery and pain has to be undertaken.
6. Positivity is one-sided, and running away from negativity does not build resilience.

1. Don’t isolate yourself, but connect with others, and nurture your relationships. One can reach out to others, play and have fun by joining online or offline groups, or while going for a morning walk. One need not wait for a pandemic.
2. Accept what is happening to you(and others) and allow it to exist, while taking affirmative action towards stuff that is in your control.
3. Don’t avoid discomfort, but move towards it occasionally. It’s not always about comfort and convenience.
4. Distance yourself from your thoughts by practicing gratitude journaling, or simply writing on paper what is on your mind.
5. Find growth opportunities in adverse situations by reframing them as a new challenge, something known as Cognitive Reframing.

Human beings form social circles averaging to 150 individuals; this is called the Dunbar’s Number.

A lack of people around us can actually make our brain shrink. The region known for formation of new memories, called the 'dentate gyrus', reduces in size if there is no human interaction. There is also a reduction in spatial processing (locating objects in a given space) and focus.

Positive solitude is a state of being alone without being lonely, in a contented manner.

Loneliness, on the other hand, is isolation with a hunger for social contact, something that distorts one’s perceptions, damaging the ability to interact in a normal way with others. It also lowers one’s self-esteem leading to a loneliness loop, characterized by social withdrawal and depression.