A few years ago, my sister married a Colombian
and moved to this country, where I live. My mother then found herself literally
alone... At the beginning, I felt anxiety in her and maybe she was a little
scared, but what she did was to use her bright and natural creativity, by creating
systems that gave her a sense of security, for example, with a hairdresser,
organized to call her daily...
Some may
argue that loneliness has become an epidemic[1].
And if we think about it, about 30 years ago it was difficult to find someone
who lived alone; nowadays, it's too easy.
Nothing
against it; actually, I like to live alone - well, almost alone, since I live in a small community, but I have a
separate space. OK, the issue here is not that; the theme is the growing
loneliness.
We may not
be able to prevent someone from being alone, but we can avoid the experience of
loneliness, and the first thing, as my mother found out, is to connect with the
community.
If you
reflect for a moment, you will perceive that there is an invisible network that
unites all the people around you, generating a beautiful network of protection
and care; this is the community.
My first conscious experience of really being
alone was in Santiago, Chile. I was new to that country and I still didn't feel
being part of a community, something that was later generated. So when
Christmas came and I had no one to share... I had never really given much value
to this holiday, but that day, yes, I realized that I really wanted to be with
other people. So I reflected a while, look inside me and used creativity, one
of my specialties. I called some people who were in contact with the
organization I was coordinating and we planned a lunch together. I was never a
good cook, but that day everything went amazing; not only was the food
delicious, about 7 or 8 people came and I experienced a real Christmas.
The other
way to overcome that feeling of loneliness - and if it is an epidemic, it is
likely to affect you soon - is to look inside, find your own specialties and
make use of them.
We will not
always have a community and the reasons are diverse, in such a complex society,
but we will always have our own inner wealth. In making use of this treasure,
we will naturally experience satisfaction and change our perspective not being
lonely even though I am alone.
Then, we
will deliver these specialties to the world and the world will return us
company of some kind.
I don't
know if it's the cure to loneliness, but this is my humble suggestion: connect
more with your community and look inside yourself, finding specialties that you
can give to the world.
[1] Check these articles on lonelines
as an epidemic in relation to:
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