Is loneliness an epidemic?
As COVID-19 numbers continue to spike and climb, so does loneliness. We are not solitary creatures. Humans are meant for communal living so to navigate life through quarantine and six feet of separation, must be pushing our minds to the farthest reaches of sanity.
Sure, we can Zoom or meet each other outdoors, but loneliness was an issue long before the virus amplified it. For older people and those already living on their own, this mandatory disconnect could wreak havoc with their minds.
How do we then fend off loneliness? How do we help people feel connected in an authentic way?
Or do we?
Russian author Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky said "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings."
Could it be that loneliness will be used to cleanse our souls? To force us to connect in ways we have not? To redeem the time that has been lost? Relationships which have been allowed to become anemic? Priorities which have been placed upside down?
Maybe loneliness will be the medicine that will cure our ills.