Twenty-five percent of Americans say they have no one in whom to confide

By Joanne Petrie, One to Another

A recent survey said one out of four people don’t have a single friend to turn to in a time of need.  Twenty-five percent of Americans say they have no one in whom to confide.  Most adults have only two close friends.  Loneliness is when you have love to give and no one to give it to.  Loneliness is a by product of changing circumstances.  Alone is the absence of people, while lonely is the absence of connections.  While identifying why we are lonely doesn’t make loneliness go away it does make it easier to know what will work best with your circumstances, here are a few antidotes.
1. Be good to yourself when you are in a good place emotionally, jot down three things you can do for yourself when you later find yourself lonely and out of ideas.
2. Be intentional about meeting new people.  Say to yourself, “It’s hard reaching out and taking a risk, but I can do it”.
3. Ask for what you need.  Suggested statements:  “I don’t need you to fix my life.  I’m taking steps in that direction, I just need you to listen.”  “If you want to do more than listen, call me up and ask me to go to a movie some time.”
4. Keep your loneliness in perspective.  You have a resilient human spirit and you will get through this time in your life.  You have survived other crisis.  Sometimes the loneliness helps tell us about life.  Our wilderness experience can turn into growth opportunities.  God may use this time to draw us closer to Him.

“He puts poor people on their feet again;
he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—
a place in the sun!”

1 Samuel 2:8-10

“One to Another ” has many ways to give people to connect. For women we have “Women of Hope”, “Friend to Friend” and “One Widow to Another”.

For men and women we have grief classes starting in September.


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