Loneliness and Making Connection

When I was working for Betterhelp, I had the opportunity to facilitate a couple of discussion groups that I got to develop and name. The members who came to the online group were from all over the world, to my surprise! The women would stay up late at night to join the group that would start for me at 3:00 pm Central. I mean, Australia, the UK, Germany, even Saudi Arabia one time! It was amazing! And if you’re wondering what brought these women of all ages from all over the world and the US too- New York, California, Oregon, Arizona- together for discussion, it was the title of the group. Loneliness Throughout the Many Stages of Women’s Lives. They all felt lonely in some way. Sometimes the groups would range from 21 yrs of age to an 80 yr old member, which made it so interesting to see how each would offer her own encouragement to the other after patiently listening to stories of a life nothing like her own, but consistent in a similar feeling. Sometimes this connection was the only one these ladies had for the day, sometimes they just came for the camaraderie or the encouragement from others who could understand what they were feeling.

This type of connection is called a Collective Connection. It is with people you share an affiliation with or a similar belief or similar faith, such as a church membership. Maybe in the case of this group, it was the shared desire to find comfort or solve their loneliness problem. The other 2 types of connection are intimate, a connection with people who love and care for you, such as family and friends, a group of about up to 5 people, and relational, a connection with people who you see regularly and share an interest with, such as a coworker, or the people who are at the gym every day, usually up to about 12 people. We all need all of these connections.

If you find that you are having difficulty making or keeping these connections in your life, you are certainly not alone. If you need help, please feel free to email me for some ideas, or stay tuned here for my next blog on “How to make Connection”. Jennie Allen has a great book called, “Find Your People,” that you might enjoy also!

If you read my facebook post, you read why you need connection, now you know what the connections are, and next you will find out how to connect.

Help is on the way!