DISCLAIMER: I’m no medical doctor, I’m just your normal Jo Blogs sharing her life experiences and raising awareness for autism and mental health. If you see anything out of the ordinary or feel out of the ordinary for yourself or your loved on, I advise you to seek help and answers with a medical professional as I don’t forever condone self-harm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke1AKTMSXLA Most, if not all, of us feel loneliness at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, loneliness can become chronic and result in depression if it is not dealt with effectively and professionally. Therefore, it is crucial to deal with your loneliness in healthy ways in order to reduce the likelihood of developing a longer-term condition. There are ways to avoid depression from loneliness by using coping skills when you feel lonely, increasing social connection, and exploring your feelings of loneliness to avoid depressions. So, here I am today to give you all some advice on these three methods on how to not get depressed by loneliness. So, as you’re aware basically I’m going to be talking about as I said about a how-to comprehension guide for you guys on dealing with loneliness and hopefully the methods and techniques that will help you. So, there are three different methods: Method 1- Reducing Your Loneliness Method 2 – Increasing Social Connection Method 3 is Preventing Depression from Loneliness So, let’s begin this. METHOD 1: REDUCING LONELINESS Change the way you think about being alone The nature of our thoughts determines the quality of our life whether it is sad, happy or contented. Also, happy, optimistic, positive thoughts, emotions, and feelings generate a zing in our system which makes the blood flow freely and heartbeat joyously if we’re in that happy state. They create a spring in our feet and spur us to action. Let us remember the age-old saying that the mind- thoughts- can move the mountains. Pessimistic, sad and gloomy thoughts, on the other hand, create inertia and force us to stay bed-bound. The way we usually think and act upon certain things will determine every outcome or situation that we face in the life of our everyday challenges. Yet, what we do and say etc is up to us and starts with us and ends with us. We can be our own worse enemy when we create some negativity in our lives. Our actions are the practical manifestations of our thoughts. It is quite clear, therefore, that we must bring about a change in the way we think in order to create happiness and a sense of fulfilment in our life. A good thing about our brain is that it willingly adopts any changes that we bring about in our thinking patterns. Your thoughts can change your feelings (loneliness, depression) and behaviours (how well we cope and how well we adapt to the changes around us). If you think negatively about being alone, you will most likely have negative feelings about it. However, if you embrace being alone you may be able to better cope with it and reduce your loneliness overall. Use positive self-talk. For example, tell yourself that being alone can be a good thing. Tell yourself, “It’s okay to be alone. I like my own company.” This can help you build up your tolerance for being alone. When you find yourself thinking negatively about being alone such as, “I hate being alone. I’m so lonely. This is terrible,” think of some alternative thoughts that might be more realistic and helpful. For example, you could think or tell yourself, “I can deal with being alone. I feel lonely but I know I can cope with it. It’s not so bad. Alone time can be a positive thing.” Note: I’ll share some ways for us to change our thoughts of the negatives in one of my next videos. Manage your thoughts about your social interactions. Again, it’s okay to be lonely for a time if you need it for yourself to better yourself as a person. Don’t forever feel that you should be socialising all the time in other words too. It’s a given that sometime in our lives that we’ll face loneliness. Yet, the question is as I shared is or can loneliness be a good thing for us? Loneliness does have its pros and cons along with its benefits and disadvantages. We need to be aware of our feelings and emotions and everything around us to what’s going on and hopefully, to react in the right way when these situations that we come to face, hit us in our face. People will feel lonely for quite a number of reasons, which may be including something like simple social awkwardness and intentional isolation. Some people may even feel lonely when they are surrounded by people because they lack meaningful connections with those people. Everyone experiences loneliness sometimes in our lives as I’ve mentioned, but it is never pleasant to any of us. Dealing with loneliness can take many forms, such as including meeting new people, learning to appreciate your alone time, and reconnecting with your own family and so much more. You can click above me to what I shared about a few tips and advice on how to overcome and deal with loneliness on a daily. (Video – Dealing with Loneliness [How To Guide] Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPx-BEzDJzg )   Studies show that how you think about yourself in relation to others has an impact on your level of loneliness. Fear of rejection can discourage social activity and increase feelings of loneliness. As we know that fear of rejection is an emotion and sometimes many of us we feel that kind of feeling based on that if we’re trying to socialise and more. If you are thinking you are inferior, this may lead to worrying about social interactions. Remind yourself that we are each different but we are equal. We are worthy. Expect positive outcomes instead of negative ones when interacting with others. Think of alternative ways that