Tackling Loneliness This Christmas – Ideas to Support Yourself and Others

Tackling Loneliness This Christmas – Ideas to Support Yourself and Others

Loneliness This Christmas – It’s that time of year again. To spend cherished moments with family, partners and friends gathered around the Christmas tree. Breaking crackers together at the dinner table and playing the classic game of charades. However, what if that’s not you? What if despite seeing and hearing everything about spending time with others at Christmas and throughout December you’re alone? Or feel sympathy for those who don’t have a person to spend time with and want to do something about it? In this blog, we explain what you can do to help yourself and others.

Feeling Lonely? Here’s What You Do

During the time of the Covid pandemic, connecting with others between 2019-2021 was more difficult than ever. With illnesses spreading and sadly deaths, lockdowns, flights cancelled and social distancing, it was a tough time and people often felt alone. In 2021, a study by What’sApp revealed that one in four people aged between 18-34 felt lonely at Christmas. What’sApp helped by launching a campaign to tackle this. And the same feeling of loneliness each year creates difficulties for older people too. Age UK state that more than two million above the age of 75 live alone. So what can you do to address this issue? First of all, try to reach out and talk about how you’re feeling.

Hopefully, you have a family member or friend to that you can speak with. Maybe they’re not able to visit or vice versa but there are plenty of forms of communication, from video calls and speaking on the telephone to writing letters or emails. If you have no one to chat with, there are support lines where you can reach out, from organisations such as Samaritans and several other support lines, via this NHS page.

It’s also important to try and address why loneliness may be affecting you. Is there something stopping you from meeting people and feeling connected? Perhaps it is a psychological issue that you have pushed to one side. Or maybe you have gone into your social shell and have a fear of upsetting or not feeling appreciated by another person? Whatever your age or social background, loneliness can creep up on you without even realising it. If this is you, don’t worry as it’s natural for humans to feel alone sometimes. What’s vital is to get back on the horse, reach out to others. This in turn creates a positive cycle to help you feel better and project that same energy onto others you come into contact with!

Other ways you can address loneliness may include:

• Joining a local club or meet up
• Talking therapies
• Opening up around others closest to you
• Taking care of yourself and applying a gratefulness practice
• Exercise or walks to appreciate the outdoors. You may even connect with others while on a walk!
• Find a new activity or hobby to get involved in
• Get a pet, dogs, cats and all types of animals make the best companions!
• Try and reach out to a charity and volunteer, it’s a great place to meet people and start your journey to a better you.

How Can I Support Someone With Loneliness?

Reaching out and showing you care is key. It’s amazing what you can do by simply taking the time to acknowledge a stranger. It’s often overlooked as we go about our busy lives. If you want to help those who are feeling lonely, even just lending your ears to listen about their day is more impactful than you could imagine.

You could encourage them to get more help if they need it. Give them physical support through a hug or holding their hand to let that person know you are there or interact with the person through activity. If it’s a young individual, reaching out through playing a PlayStation or going for a drink. For an older person, spending time with them or going for a nice walk to exercise and chat is a fantastic thing to do. You could also volunteer this Christmas. Whether that’s at a local charity shop delivering items, or nationally by lending your voice to a telephone line or live chat service. You can find all sorts of opportunities here through the campaign to end loneliness. Whatever your situation this Christmas, know that there is help out there for you and you can also be a part of the solution to tackle loneliness.

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