How can we feel alone in a room full of people, or a house full of people, or a world full of people? Sometimes, we feel as if we're in one of those glass sound booths, and we can see people's mouths moving, but we don't hear a word. How can we distance ourselves from reality? Sometimes, I believe, it is necessary to do just that. The truth of life can be overwhelming. A little reinforcement of the mind and body can only help. This can be shopping or fishing or reading or taking a bath, a nap, a shower, anything that calms us and opens up our focusing avenues. However, once we take our precious break from the real world, we need to tackle the problems causing us to feel alone.
Worry may very well be the culprit. We worry about ourselves, and our kids, and our partners, and the neighbor woman and our relatives and friends. There's always money problems, equaling, lack of. The carpet needs to be replaced, the dog is thirteen, the cat the same, schools aren't safe anymore, and one of mine is still in there. While we are worrying, we are distancing ourselves from reality in a different way, we are hiding from it, alluding it, ignoring it, and feeling alone in a room full of people. Thinking about it all isn't going to do anything to help. There has to be a plan of action. What can we do to alleviate the problem, or at least, make it better?
If we've had an argument with a person, chances are if there is love, there is a way to mend the situation. If it's bills and money, we can talk to the people we owe money to and set up some sort of payment plan we can handle. If it's kids, we can talk to them and try and rectify any problems we see or are involved in. Most times common sense and honesty will get you to where you want to be. This subtracts the amount of thinking going on in your brain, and allows you to pay more attention to now, and other people, especially the one's talking to you! Instead of feeling alone, you are now involved. You are present in a conversation. You are enjoying life. Imagine that!
You can go out to lunch with a friend. You will be able to focus in on the two of you, and what you each have to say. You'll be amazed at how good the food tastes. And you won't have felt alone once. We must learn how to turn on and off our "worry circuitry" so we can balance out our lives. When we feel alone, it is because we are going into ourselves. We are retreating from people and situations. We are putting the glass around us and worrying again. We need to learn when to put the glass up, and when to let it stay down. There are times it just shouldn't appear, as when out to lunch with a friend, or talking to someone on the phone.
There are always going to be things to worry about, but should we let those worries take over our lives? I think not. Maybe we could tame ourselves to only worry when we are alone. That is, after we've learned how to trim our worry! We don't have to worry that our child's cat has fleas; they live on their own! We don't have to worry that another child has more piercings, so what? We don't have to worry about things that others can handle on their own. Focusing on not surrounding yourself with worry isn't easy, but it can be done. Faith is a big asset. Knowing that the Lord wouldn't give you more than you can handle is a reminder that everything will be okay.
We never have to feel alone unless we choose to. If our mind, body, and spirit are in tune, we'll always feel a part of the house with people scattered here and there, even though we are alone on our computer and everybody else is asleep. We don't have to feel alone in a crowded room, because our worries won't let us loosen up and mingle and talk to people. We will feel confident and excited to be out and around other adults. All because we somehow found a way to put our worries in a compartment somewhere inside of us, and left it there while we went out and had some fun. We deserve to be happy, and we will be as long as we take care of what has to be done, and enjoy ourselves the rest of the time.
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