On Loneliness

What's equally tragic with a life without love?

Loneliness.

To me, it is one of life's greatest tragedies. While feelings of abandonment, rejection and being unloved are awfully painful as they are, loneliness in the picture makes the emotions a hundred fold truer hence even more painful.

A lonely life is like being stuck in a dessert. No matter how long or how loud you scream, no one's going to come. It's like being lost in a crowd with no hand to hold and no shoulder to cry on when the going gets tough and rough. And although we have families and friends we see, talk with and whom we know love us, the gaping hole remains unfilled. 

In his book, The Four Loves, CS Lewis has said, 

"We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness. We need others physically, emotionally, intellectually; we need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves."

Loneliness leaves us incomplete, and it's something we have to live with for the rest of our lives unless we let people in. God meant for us to live and love together, along each other and with each other. That's why He created Eve out of Adam's ribs  because "no man is an island." 

To feel lonely is completely normal, but to give in and let this terrible emotion control our lives is another matter. Take time to savor and understand the feeling, then use it to pursue a life without it. That often means letting go of our inhibitions, our past and doubts. 

Because only when we hold nothing back will we fully experience love and life in all its glory.