Ask HN: Coping with Loneliness
Don&#x27;t cope with it - fix the problem. Emotions are designed to tell you important facts about the word. Pain tells you that there&#x27;s ongoing physical harm that you ought to avoid, anger tells you that you&#x27;re in an appropriate position to start or threaten to start a physical fight, grief tells you that you temporarily need to get the support of the tribe as you adjust to your loss, and so forth.<p>What loneliness tells you is that you haven&#x27;t gotten the sort of stimuli you&#x27;d expect out of having a position in a social group. Experiencing it sucks because this is the sort of thing that is extraordinarily dangerous.<p>So, how do you get &quot;I am part of a larger group that accepts me&quot; signals? Go and do stuff. If you&#x27;re not naturally inclined to stay on top of things, get organized about it. Texting&#x2F;IMing your friends&#x2F;acquaintances is a good choice. Volunteering somewhere could also help. Regular hobbies are great - I do social dancing. Swipe on a few Tinder profiles and see if you can strike up a conversation. It really doesn&#x27;t matter <i>what</i> you do, so long as you use your planning faculties and organization to compensate for your lack of socialization drive.