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Try some of these strategies to tackle             about something you care about, give
         loneliness:                                        advice on a forum, or have a video call with
         • Practice your self-kindness. Limit               a friend. The more you interact with others
         negative self-talk. Take care of yourself.         while online, the more connected you are
         • Capitalize on the present moment.                likely to feel.
         When you feel good about something,                • Stop focusing so much on yourself.
         share it with others right away, and I do          Shift your focus on what you can give,
         not mean “share” by posting on your social         instead.
         media…talk!                                        • Spend money on experiences. This is
         • Connect with people in real life. We             way better for our mental health. So get
         do this by looking people in the eyes,             creative and think about what you want
         listening, being mindful, and choosing             to do with others. For example, I might go
         not be distracted by our phones or other           on a canoeing trip, go wine tasting, plan a
         technologies.                                      beach party, or host an arts & crafts night.
         • Rethink how you spend your spare                 What group activities might make you feel
         time. When we feel lonely, sometimes               less lonely?
         we just want to retreat into a corner and          • Pay attention to the things that
         hide. Other times, our endless to-do list          matter. How do we expect to improve
         may leave us too exhausted to go out and           our loneliness when we don’t know what
         be social. But opting to stay alone every          causes it? It’s hard. So it’s helpful to start
         night with our phones, watching Netflix,           paying attention to the present moment.
         or playing on Facebook can really get us           What are the experiences that make you
         stuck in loneliness. We have created a             feel lonely? And what are the experiences
         life for ourselves that deprives of us of          that make you feel connected or like you
         meaningful social connection, and the              belong? Identifying these moments can
         only way to get out of it is to start living       help you reduce loneliness, because you
         differently.                                       can limit your engagement in activities that
         • Do more things with people. Engaging             make you feel lonely and increase your
         in face-to-face social interactions tends to       engagement in activities that make you feel
         improve our mood and reduce depression.            connected.
         • Talk to strangers. A growing body of             • Create a vision board. I keep a vision
         research suggests that even seemingly              board tacked up by my desk to remind
         trivial interactions with strangers—like           me of my goals. A big chunk of my vision
         chatting with a barista or cashier—may be          board is about connecting – counselling
         able to keep loneliness at bay by helping us       youngsters, spending time with family
         feel more socially connected. So reach out         and my dogs, and the like. Sometimes I
         to other human beings to say hello.                have a hard time sticking to it, but having
         • Be active online. Instead of passively           the vision board reminds me to. Once you
         surfing the net or your social media, if           discover the things that make you feel
         you want to go online, opt instead to              less lonely and more connected, it can be
         do something that involves the active              helpful to create a board or list or plan for
         participation of other people. For example,        what you will do - something to keep near
         you could play games with others, chat             you so you remember what you need to do


        SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #64 | OCTOBER 2024                                                            25
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