23 Mar Wiping out the lonely feeling

The birth years defining the start of the Millennial generation are not precise, however they roughly to the beginning of the 1980’s until the end of the 1990’s. This generation has been receiving different contradictory labels, such as the “frugal generation”, “go-nowhere” generation, “connected tech-savvy millennials” or the generation more focused on a “purpose-driven life to impact society and create a better tomorrow”.

Aside from the labelling, the millennial generation is also known to be the loneliest. A recent poll from YouGov, a polling firm and market research company, found that 30% of millennials say they feel lonely. This is the highest percentage of all the generations surveyed, compared to 20% of Generation X and just 15% of baby boomers.

Although the survey didn’t conclude a justifiable reason for the millennial’s loneliness, we shouldn’ ignore the problematic. Loneliness has proven to affect mental and physical health, specially heart related, and almost every study finds that the quality of our relationships is frequently the best indicator of our happiness.

In spite of the fact that we’re living closer together thanks to technology, it doesn’ prevent us from feeling lonely. From moving to a new city, to becoming a parent, to losing a job, many significant changes in life can also leave us feeling isolated. In addition, we don’t share the same sense of community as before. We rarely greet – or even know – our neighbours and the streets are filled with anonymous faces. Around the world we have embraced a culture of individualism, and traditional sources of solidarity – labour unions, civic associations, neighbourhood organisations and religious groups — are in decline.

As a co-living space, we believe that social connection and being part of a community can help a lot to smooth the loneliness. Here are some ideas to help you wipe out the lonely feeling! 

1. Music

Firstly, we must learn how to not feel lonely while alone. Music has a super-power to make us travel inside our own heads, influence our moods and bring us thousands of emotions. Choosing some calm, happy song and go for a walk can make all the difference. Choose a nice place to go – it could be somewhere around nature, a secret beach or some garden near your home and just go. Sometimes we forget the power that nature and meditating about gratitude can have in our lives.

2. Turn off the phone and talk with people around you

It’s a bit ironic that on this intense age of heavy digital communication, people are isolating themselves more than ever. We are always tech connected and can reach more people than ever, whernever they are in the world, yet we forget people that are physically around us and how to interact with them in person. Being addictive to our phone can also bring a lot of anxiety – driven by social media for example. So, our suggestion is that we should turn off the phone (or at the least the notifications) and just enjoy old-fashion interaction.  

3. Be part of your community’s activities 

Belonging is one of the most important human’s needs, as Maslow defends. We can only have self-esteem and feel fulfilled if we have our belonging need satisfied. Saying so, it is crucial to belong to somewhere – can be a close family, a friend’s group or a community. If you don’t have a community, you can always find one – for example enrol in cookery classes, a sports team, pottery classes, and so on. When you enrol to some hobby or activity that you like it is easier for you to meet like-minded people and create new friendships. Any activity is better that none – even watching movies can be a group thing. 

4. Balance between your privacy and being with others 

It’s crucial to find a balance between time to be alone and time to meet others – and we should be able to have space to do both. Sometimes living with family, friends or others can be hard to set boundaries: but it is essential foryour mental health. 

5. Volunteer 

The act of giving others bring us a lot of things too – such as gratitude, fulfilment and social connection. It will always depend on the tasks and volunteer group, but that’s a great way to improve your mood, your sense of belonging and while doing a noble thing – helping others! 

6. Do sports

There are lots of activities and sports that are practiced inin groups, such as yoga classes, running clubs, football, rugby, tennis, among others. Some sports are great to develop a sense of camaraderie and social connection – some of those groups almost become families!. It can be daunting at first but doing something that will get your heart rate up in a group is a great way to make friends and improve your mood. 

Loneliness is not a consequence of being alone, it is rather a measure of how socially connected you are with others around you, in the different contexts of your life. As described earlier, there are several ways to connect with others and feel less lonely – but as advocates for co-livings, we believe that this way of living is the best to really end up with this loneliness epidemic. OnIn top of that, there are other advantages as this lifestyle is all about living new experiences: being able to find a new home whenever one goes and live out of a backpack for a long or a little time; having a host manager 24/7 to support you, several facilities like one single bill with all included, free amenities and thousands of tips and suggestions for you to enjoy the city like a local in your free time. Everything is designed to potentiate people to share within a community and interact with each other. Co-living is made for people who seek a life with purpose and meaning, ready to share a home built under the same values.