Emotions
Feeling sad when everyone else is happy?
Sadness often goes hand-in-hand with loneliness. You can feel lonely in an unhappy relationship, family or city. Humans are tribal by nature so loneliness is the hardest of conditions. I experienced loneliness as a widow in my 40s. With two children life was very busy but inside I had an aching loneliness. I count my blessings that I fell in love again and my husband came with a large, boisterous and loving family.
Over Christmas and the New Year festivities many of us have enjoyed time with friends and family – even if there were some irritations along the way. Sadly many have spent this time alone. Or a person who normally lives alone, who has spent time with people, is now faced with going home to a lonely life. How daunting is that?
Having moved to London, I have found few people smile at you in a city. My nieces, who grew up in the Scottish Highlands and now work in London, confirmed that they find the same. It is very unlike home where people smile and say ‘Good morning’. One of them said they were determined to keep smiling at people to see how many she could get to respond. What an excellent idea!