LONELINESS: AN INVISIBLE VIRUS

AVOIDING A PARALLEL PANDEMIC

We are very aware that there is a pandemic that is sweeping the world. It is probably one of the few times that we’ve experienced a threat to the whole world at once. We can play the blame game of who is at fault and what bad decisions leaders have made that have made the situation worse. Yet those debates don’t resolve the problem that now threatens our entire world.
Many health workers are doing an admirable job of protecting the physical health of those infected. However, the necessary steps that we are taking to protect our physical health has made us susceptible to another invisible pandemic. I’m talking about the pandemic of LONELINESS.

THE PANDEMIC THREAT OF
LONELINESS

Before you dismiss that as a threat, let me share some information. First, medical research has found that loneliness is just as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes per day (and not half as fun or relaxing.) Research suggests that loneliness is a greater threat than

obesity,

excessive alcohol,

depression,

heart attacks,

strokes, or

depression,

Lonely people are 50% more likely to die prematurely than those with healthy social relationships. Medical research indicates that excessive loneliness can reduce a person’s immune system. If you want to increase your ability to resist the Covid 19 virus and also increase your neighbor’s immune system at the same time, you will interrupt their experience of loneliness. Depending on the situation, there are different ways to do that.

One Antidote to Loneliness

Across age demographics, socioeconomic statuses, ethnic backgrounds, and any other difference you could come up with between people, there was one practice that most joy-filled individuals have in common–all of them.

Gratitude.

It sounds so simple, but an attitude of gratitude has the ability to lift the spirits of anyone struggling with loneliness and its accommodating conditions of worthlessness, disconnection, and lack of meaning.

One practice is to determine to begin each day by identifying at least five things for which one can be thankful. Then end the day by again identifying even the most simple things for which one can give thanks.

Another practice which has a double impact is to deliberately connect with another person and express thanks for some aspect of their life. In this case, the act can be expressed personally or through any of the means by which one can connect across the distance.

Sending a note, making a call, or sending a present can have an impact on you as you plan to whom and what you will use to express that thanks. And the unexpected reception of that thanks also impacts the recipient.