Are you lonely?

[Kestra]

My mother died the other day. I went to the retirement home where she lived for the funeral. I sat up all night with some of her friends from the home, and in the morning, she was buried.

I went home, and since I had the day off from work, I went for a swim. I met Marie at the beach. We had always fancied each other, but nothing ever came of it.

We went back to my room and made love. She asked me if I loved her. I said it didn't matter but I didn't think so. That made her a bit sad, I think. Later we went to the movies.

Then, yesterday, while I was at the beach, I shot an Arab. I hadn't intended to, but the sun was so hot and bright, and he pulled a knife, and the sun reflected off the blade.

Now I'm in jail. My lawyer asked me if I felt any grief at my mother's funeral. When I told him no, he told me to keep it to myself.

In our society, he says, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.

Stop giving me flashbacks of World. Lit. my junior year of high school. That's a time I do not want to remember!

 

[Goliath]

^Sorry.

It's just that I'm pretty lonely here, in Algiers. I had to move here from Oran, because of the plague.

 

[RegFan]

Not often. I used to be very lonely.

 

[Deckerd]

I was.

Oh really?

I'm with Brew. Come and sit between us and tell us all about it.

 

[Sakrysta]

In a word, very.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

I don’t think we’re alone in the ‘lonely’ department. I think most adults feel isolated from time-to-time, and I think a lot of people have a lot of people they would call good acquaintances, but only handful of people they’d call friends. When you get down to it, you have to ask yourself, “Who do I really love? Who would I lay my life down for?” The answer you give is who you consider your friends. (Clearly, I’m excluding family here.)

I only have 5 close friends, but I have several acquaintances, and I would be willing to bet the same is true for most.

I’ve often heard that technology is making us a society of isolationists, which I think is hogwash. I was such a lonely and introverted young adult that I probably would have completely fallen off the wagon if not for the net and (God help me) this message board.

Now that I’m older, I’m blessed not to be so lonely. But, I still get that way. We all have bouts.

 

[Venardhi]

Nearly always. I love people, I'm friendly and outgoing and perfectly pleasant and have little trouble meeting people, but forging significant (and lasting) relationships is a trick I never learned.

Of late it has been particularly intense for some reason. Nothing quite as depressing as hanging out with a dozen people at a party or sleeping cuddled up to someone and feeling like you may as well be alone.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I am "lonely" in the sense that the Atlantic Ocean is "a bit damp".

In other words: VERY.

And I'm 40 years old. And still lonely. How pathetic is THAT?

{{{squish}}}

I don't see myself being lonely as much as I get saddened at times by the things I see or hear in the news or everyday life. I'm just surrounded by way too many people every day that sometimes I wish I could be stranded on an island by myself. I live in a house with several family members.

<snip>. I'm an introvert at heart and appreciate the little, private, quiet times I have to myself.

I could have written that post!

I was.

DETAILS!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

In a word, very.

{{squishy hug}}

 

[Deckerd]

In a word, very.

{{squishy hug}}

Your avatar looks incredibly appropriate.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

In a word, very.

{{squishy hug}}

Your avatar looks incredibly appropriate.

For this thread or for the end of Lost? Or both!

 

[1001001]

My wife and our seven year old son were going away for a few days during their spring break. My son asked me "Dad, aren't you going to be lonely?"

And before I could respond, my wife said "Your father doesn't get lonely."



I've lived a very social life, especially when I was young. I lived in a fraternity house for three years.

It might be because of my job, which is very psychologically intense and demanding, but I enjoy my alone time very much. Alone = quiet.

Quiet = good.

 

[Amaris]

I was.

Oh really?

I was.

Oh really?

I'm with Brew. Come and sit between us and tell us all about it.

Oh, I'm sorry, you two, it's not in the way you would think. I don't feel lonely now, but it's not because I found a girlfriend (although that would be wonderful).

 

[TheBrew]

Awwww....

Well, I'm glad you aren't lonely anyways. I've might have been alone, but I've never been lonely.

 

[Shazam!]

I feel lonely sometimes but it's not through lack of communicating or socialising with others it's more that all my family, friends and the people I work with are not on the same intellectual level as me. I feel suffocated by their ignorance. They just talk absolute shit, there's just no sophistication to the conversations at all and If I try to have an intellectual conversation they look at me as if to say "what the f**k are you talking about" and then proceed to talk about their night out on the town and how many people they made out with.
An example would be that during the UK election I liked to discuss it but nobody I knew away from the net had any interest, none of them even bother voting. They didn't even know the names of the party leaders.

Pseud alert!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I am "lonely" in the sense that the Atlantic Ocean is "a bit damp".

In other words: VERY.

And I'm 40 years old. And still lonely. How pathetic is THAT?

{{{squish}}}

*snif* Thank you YR.

 

[Rii]

Not particularly. I suspect that I should as I've no friendships, nor romantic attachments, few relations with family and limited social contacts of any kind whatsoever, and this has been the case for a number of years now. I naturally seek and am most comfortable in solitude, I find most social contact - even that which is unobjectionable at the time - exhausting.

I haven't entirely suppressed the desire for social contact. There are certainly occasions and days upon which I feel particularly lonely, and more broadly I've observed in myself several defence mechanisms at work regarding such - including my evident intellectualisation of the subject. For the most part, however, I'm at peace in my solitude.

 

[Deckerd]

That was as thoughtful and in-depth a 'yes' as I've seen in a good while.

 

[scotpens]

My mother died the other day. I went to the retirement home where she lived for the funeral. I sat up all night with some of her friends from the home, and in the morning, she was buried.

I went home, and since I had the day off from work, I went for a swim. I met Marie at the beach. We had always fancied each other, but nothing ever came of it.

We went back to my room and made love. She asked me if I loved her. I said it didn't matter but I didn't think so. That made her a bit sad, I think. Later we went to the movies.

Then, yesterday, while I was at the beach, I shot an Arab. I hadn't intended to, but the sun was so hot and bright, and he pulled a knife, and the sun reflected off the blade.

Now I'm in jail. My lawyer asked me if I felt any grief at my mother's funeral. When I told him no, he told me to keep it to myself.

In our society, he says, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.

Stop giving me flashbacks of World. Lit. my junior year of high school. That's a time I do not want to remember!

Okay, I give up? What is it? Is it a quote from a story or novel?

EDIT: Never mind. I Googled it. Never read Camus. And now I'm certain I never will.

 

[RandyS]

I am "lonely" in the sense that the Atlantic Ocean is "a bit damp".

In other words: VERY.

And I'm 40 years old. And still lonely. How pathetic is THAT?

It's not pathetic at all. I'm also 40 and have only three friends (unless you guys here can count as friends), that I only see once or twice a week, and my girlfriend who, of course, I see every day.

In other words, we're in a similar boat, friend.