Monday, Aug. 14, 2006 - 9:01 a.m.
Loneliness is Too Prevalent
Reading friends' journals and just
speaking with them has lead me to postulate that there is an overabundance of loneliness
out there, whether it be for those in relationships or not. I know I have
been lonely the last couple of years with my husband gone overseas. I
think the single loneliest night of my entire life was the day that Tarik had to
go back to Jordan after Travis was born. I dropped him off at the airport,
then came home that evening to an empty house, just me and a three week old
baby, and not really knowing what I was doing, as I was a first time mom.
I sat there and cried at the prospect for a while, then stopped as soon as the
baby started crying. I got over that, but have had SEVERAL bouts of
loneliness since then. I don't socialize much since arranging for a sitter
for Travis is sometimes more trouble than its worth, if I don't want to take him
with me somewhere. Then in the evenings I am by myself of course, and go
to bed by myself. I love staying home with him, but there ARE those times
when an adult needs interaction with other adults. I look at my other friends and their
loneliness. Many are in relationships or married but feel that their
partners are detached from them emotionally, they don't receive the interaction
with them that is warranted in their relationships with their partners, or their
partners simply don't care about them or their relationships. Occurrences
happen on a daily basis to make one partner feel unloved, unappreciated,
slighted, and rejected. Then others are going through major life changes
that are most likely the impetus for their feelings of loneliness and will
recover as the newness of their situations eases off. Still others are in
no romantic relationship at all, and although have many friends, don't have the
opportunity to spend time with those friends as much as needed or
wanted. We
as a society are losing our time to be social and to interact with others.
We work, and we work and we work, and we put in long hours at work, and we commute
our free time away. I've heard that the average commute is 24 minutes a
day. HA! I WISHED I had been one of those people who had such an
easy commute. Before I left my job to stay home with my kid, I spent
anywhere from 15 to 20 hours A WEEK commuting, not getting home until after 7
each night. Who has time to spend with friends and socialize and build
relationships with that kind of schedule? And I have not been alone in this
deprivation of quality time either. I honestly cannot name one person who
is home before 6:00 pm from their job. Well, I can, but he is single and
can afford to move to apartments that are more or less across the street from
where he is employed. But the majority of us must wait for the weekends to
meet up, and even then, its difficult. I have friends I grew up with who
live in Houston, and only 15 miles away for that matter, but have not seen in
years because of schedules, family, work, and life. Its just the way it
is. I truly wish we had more time to be with our friends and to
socialize. Its important to us as the social animals that we are to have
stimulation, and conversation and relationships of all kinds. Song
Virus du Jour: Elmo's World Theme Song Useless
Trivia du Jour: LOL, I told Tarik that Travis learned how to say
"Oh My!" today, but he thinks its too girly. Thank GOD he's
coming home so he can instill some testosterone influence in this kid. Preggo
Craving du Jour: Philly Cheese steak with Mustard Sauce from
Texadelphia.
More updates on another blog home. - Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2008
Where are my zzzzzz's? - Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007
Halloween '07 - Friday, Nov. 02, 2007
Hallween is All Good! - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007