Loneliness...Revisited...

I need to be loved
I need to be happy
Cared and comforted
Longing for love
Yearning to be needed
Waiting for loneliness to disappear
Filling my life with ecstasy!

Loneliness is a feeling of emptiness and solitude, sometimes self-imposed, sometimes influenced by several external factors. Let's begin with a beautiful poem on loneliness by Katherine Mansfield...but can loneliness be beautiful? Isn't it paradoxical? Well...here it goes:

Now it is Loneliness who comes at night
Instead of Sleep, to sit beside my bed.
Like a tired child I lie and wait her tread,
I watch her softly blowing out the light.
Motionless sitting, neither left or right
She turns, and weary, weary droops her head.
She, too, is old; she, too, has fought the fight.
So, with the laurel she is garlanded.

Through the sad dark the slowly ebbing tide
Breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied.
A strange wind flows... then silence. I am fain
To turn to Loneliness, to take her hand,
Cling to her, waiting, till the barren land
Fills with the dreadful monotone of rain

Now, loneliness has perhaps become synonymous with our lives! There's a saying, " it's always lonely at the top...", but I guess it persists everywhere, all the time. The modern day life and lifestyle is aggravating it more. Then there are stress and tension at home and workplace, anxiety and various other factors contributing to feeling unwanted, neglected and empty inside. Many noted actors, musicians, writers and people from various professions today are victims of profound despair and depression. Several studies and researches today show that the feeling of loneliness and despair is spreading like a disease and it is quite alarming for our society! Chronic depression has now become a common syndrome among teenagers and many adults.

How can we deal with loneliness? It's easier said than done. I do not want to go into all those typical theoretical solutions and loads of commonly practiced methods. Sometimes, we feel dejected for no apparent reason. We need to be happy, need to feel loved, wanted and cared all the time. Loneliness should be dealt with love and compassion. Only that would heal loneliness in a slow and steady way.