There is nothing wrong with preferring solitude as long as you don’t isolate yourself from the world. However, if this happens, your mental health can suffer. So it is important to look for ways to stop isolating yourself.
Even if you enjoy your own company, it’s never a good idea to isolate yourself from the world. Indeed, if you find yourself in this kind of situation, you should stop isolating yourself. You don’t have to be the center and soul of the party. It just involves coming out of the shell you eventually put yourself in, for whatever reason.
Connections with other people and the world enrich you. On the other hand, cutting ties with others often leads to greater psychological vulnerability. This increases your risk of falling into states of anxiety or depression. So the decision to stop isolating yourself is a good one.
We all need others to some extent, even if some people are not particularly social or don’t want to be. Indeed, humans are social by nature and belonging to a group is one of the keys to our evolution as a species. Therefore, it is not in our nature to live in complete solitude. Let’s take a look at five tips to help you stop isolating yourself.
1. Determine what you want
Many people love solitude and are comfortable with it. But loneliness is one thing, isolation is another. As a rule, even those who love solitude maintain contact with the world. Besides, their loneliness does not cause them pain.
Yet it is quite another thing to create an island, especially if this action is motivated by fear or resentment of others. In this case, you have chosen isolation to avoid further failed attempts to connect with others.
2. Reclaim your pleasures and hobbies
If you want to stop isolating yourself, a great starting point is to regain your tastes and hobbies. In fact, it might be a good idea to start reconnecting with them online. Today, there are many spaces dedicated to groups of people with the same interests. Approaching them is a good step to put an end to your isolation.
However, virtual spaces alone are not enough to end your isolation. They are good as a first step, but ideally, they will serve as motivation for you to take a course or join a face-to-face group. Indeed, similar tastes and hobbies unite many people and often create enriching connections.
3. Look for nearby support
Most of us have been close to others in our lives. However, due to the pace of life, these people are often left behind for no particular reason. Therefore, it is worth approaching them again to recover your lost relationships.
There may also be some people in your life that you only see occasionally and somewhat superficially. For example, your neighbors, a salesperson at the store you visit regularly, etc. Expanding your interactions with these people will help you stop isolating yourself.
4. Force yourself to attend social events
Often, isolation becomes a vicious circle. For example, the more isolated you are, the less motivated you are to connect with others. Then, the less you mix with others, the more isolated you become. So sometimes you need to push the envelope a little bit, without going to extremes.
You have to be flexible and tolerant. You shouldn’t think that attending a social gathering will be like a dream come true, complete with balloons and fireworks. In reality, it probably won’t be easy, but it will be a really important step to break the cycle of isolation.
5. Train yourself in assertiveness
Often, your resistance to communicating with other people is due to a lack of training in actively participating in conversations. You should therefore develop assertiveness.
There is a lot of information about assertiveness on the internet. The best thing to do is to arm yourself with as much information as possible and train yourself in this skill. Remember, you can stop isolating yourself. It may even be less difficult than it initially seems. However, there is no doubt that it will be worth it. In fact, it will enrich your life and strengthen your mental health.
