Author: waitingforabsolution

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty” – Mother Teresa

Dear Friend- Today I felt exceptionally lonely and naturally this made me think of you. I’ve always been a difficult person to understand, and now being without the only person that was able to do it effortlessly, I find myself struggling with it more than normal. People are often confused by loneliness and tend to misdiagnose it. How could one be lonely and yet surrounded by people? The answer is simple; loneliness is a result of internal factors, not external. The fact that our physical surroundings have no effect on loneliness explains how one can feel alone in a group of people but completely content sitting in solitude. Loneliness is not measured by the number of companions you have. It is a small, quiet place within yourself.

I’ve been lost in times so dark that I didn’t expect to find my way out. I had to trick the darkness by embracing it. Remembering that life ebbs and flows, rises and falls, inhales and exhales. I try to remember to be grateful each time I find myself in a great moment, because I know it won’t last. I try to be strong and embrace the darkness because I know it won’t either. It’s amazing how temporary it all is. In the valley I know I will reach the peak again and at the peak I’m grateful for the lessons I learned in the valley. How else would I have made it there? My ability to identify how loneliness shows itself has helped me to identify it in others. Perhaps I can combat my own feelings by seeking out others lost in their own valleys.

On the days that I feel alone, I wonder where you are and what you’re doing. I would like to think that wherever you are you’ve found happiness, and that your fearless pursuits, undeterred by fear of failure or consequence, have led you to the places you hoped to find. That kind of risk can only yield great reward. I’d hate to think of you settling for any life less than extraordinary. Some people simply want to be loved but you want your world set on fire. I hope that fire is burning and that no one ever has the power to extinguish it.