Loneliness Quotes To Help You Feel Less Alone
Feeling isolated and lonely can be one of the most challenging parts of widowhood. That’s actually putting it lightly, right? It’s not just challenging. Challenging is not being able to open the spaghetti jar. Challenging is finding the right drill bit in a sea of tools that your husband collected. Loneliness is not just a challenge. It is all-encompassing. It’s life-altering. It’s anxiety inducing, triggering, swallow-you-up feeling. This article explores how using the power of quotes can help overcome loneliness.
Feeling Loneliness in the Throes of Grief
I had a widow in one of my groups a couple of years ago. She was talking about the overwhelming loneliness that happened when she would get home from work. She would pull into her driveway and just sit there, sometimes for like 15-20 minutes because she didn’t want to go inside. She couldn’t stand the sound of the empty house. It was keeping her from wanting to go home. Work was a great distraction for her. She really thrived there. But the minute she pulled into her driveway, she said it was like her body shut down.
As widows, we all have moments like this, I think. Maybe it’s a certain time of day that you feel it the most. Like when you’re about to go to sleep, that’s when the loneliness really kicks in for you. I know nighttime is the worst time of day for so many widows and widowers. We dread it. We dread trying to go to sleep. It’s another pattern of our life that’s been disrupted. And nighttime is so quiet. But, it’s the quiet that’s so hard to get used to.
Or here’s another one. Maybe it’s that few moments, first thing in the morning when you wake up, when you wake up thinking that life is normal, that it’s just another regular day. Then 5 seconds later you remember that your husband died and you’re a widow and this is your life now. Your heart sinks and you feel deflated, hurt, and just so damn sad. And alone. This was certainly my experience. My hope is that it’s not the same for you.
I also felt this lonely feeling when I would go on trips. After my husband died, I had turned to travel, in a good way It was a good distraction for me, a healthy coping mechanism, to see other parts of the world, even live in other parts of the world. I talked about this on episode 120 of Widow 180: The Podcast, all about escapism. But, when I would come home from some trip, dragging my suitcases through the front door, usually exhausted but content. It seemed like I was coming off of the high of having some awesome trip or incredible adventure, making new amazing memories. I would be in the best mood. And then I would walk in my front door. My energy would literally fall to the floor. The energy in my body would be sucked out of me immediately. I would walk in, to my house, our house, and stop in the doorway. I would look around, at the pictures of us still up on the walls, with all the furniture the same, everything looked the same as it did when he was there with me. I would suddenly be an empty person. Empty. I’m sure some of you can relate to how that feels.
When coping with loneliness, quotes help
A really good quote always had the power to get me through a really bad day.
Because of that, I wanted to share some of these with you today. These are quotes about loneliness, but they’re actually inspiring quotes, quotes that may help you shift your perspective of how you’re feeling about being alone.
When you read these quotes, you’ll also realize that so many other people in the world are also experiencing this feeling. When you feel lonely, you think you’re the only person in the world that could possibly feel this bad. But you’re not. Lots and lots of other people feel bad too. This is the irony of it. You don’t want other people to feel crappy, but it does make you feel better, or at least comforted to know that other people feel just as crappy as you.
It makes you realize the humanity of this experience.
My hope is that when you read these quotes, they may strike a chord with you, help bring some self-awareness to your situation, and give you something to hold onto during this really difficult time in your life.
Loneliness Quotes to Inspire Resilience
“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” -Albert Camus
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” -John Green
"If you smile when you are alone, then you really mean it.” -Andy Rooney
“Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow.” -Janet Fitch
“We can all fight against loneliness by engaging in random acts of kindness.” -Gail Honeyman
“We live in a very tense society. We are pulled apart…and we all need to learn how to pull ourselves together. I think that at least part of the answer lies in solitude.” -Helen Hayes
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” -Michel de Montaigne
“Find company within yourself and you’ll never spend a day alone. Find love within yourself and you’ll never have a lonely day.” -Connor Chalfant
“Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise, and thousands of nodding acquaintances.” -William Powell
“I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.” -Oscar Wilde
Quotes On Being Happy Alone
“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; Be alone—that is when ideas are born.” -Nikola Tesla
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” -Maya Angelou
“If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself”. -Paulo Coelho de Souza
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone.” -Robin Williams
“We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly. Spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.” -Susan L. Taylor
“I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.” -Audrey Hepburn
“There is nothing outside of yourself. Look within. Everything you want is there. You are that.” -Rumi
“What a lovely surprise to discover how un-lonely being alone can be.” -Ellen Burstyn
Quotes on Finding Strength in Solitude
“If you go deeper and deeper into your own heart, you’ll be living in a world with less fear, isolation, and loneliness.” -Sharon Salzberg
“Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they’re big flashing signs that something needs to change.” -Gretchen Rubin
“At the innermost core of loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one’s lost self.” - Brendan Behan
“Loneliness is the poverty of self. Solitude is the richness of self.” -May Sarton
“Sometimes you have to stand alone just to make sure you still can.” -Anonymous
“A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that next time you feel alone.” - Mandy Hale
“Find company within yourself and you’ll never spend a day alone. Find love within yourself and you’ll never have a lonely day.” - Connor Chalfant
“You cannot be lonely if you like the person you are alone with.” - Wayne Dyer
I hope you enjoyed these amazing and inspiring quotes. I hope that they can help you find strength and inner peace when you really need it. I hope this also serves as an important reminder that you are not alone.
If you would like more support and guidance with dealing with loneliness, be sure to join us on Sunday April 21, 2024 for the Overcoming Loneliness Workshop for Widows.
This 60-90 minute LIVE Zoom session together will be focused on ways that you can learn to stop feeling lonely. We will follow along in a workbook, doing powerful exercises together in a supportive, nonjudgmental group of like-minded widows who are travelling the same rocky path through grief.
For more information, go to https://www.widow180.com/lonely and sign up today!
