Connected to Everyone, Known by No One Unfiltered Thoughts Pt.11

A hundred followers wish us on our birthdays. Dozens of conversations light up our screens every day. We can reach almost anyone with a single tap. Yet, many of us go to sleep feeling strangely unseen.

How did a generation with the greatest connectivity in human history become so familiar with loneliness?

The blue feeling. The sinking. All of it wrapped in loneliness.

Guys, there is so much about loneliness on the internet these days. It has become a topic for jokes, memes, reels, and endless discussions. But truly, loneliness is a very important phase that comes into your life—rather, it should come.

Because this is where you explore.

This is where you question yourself.

This is where you introspect.

But honestly, I want to share a few observations.

1. Missing Things We Never Had

We experience loneliness, and most of the time it is because we start missing things we don't even have yet. A perfect friend group. A perfect relationship. A perfect life.

Social media constantly shows us snapshots of what could be, and before we know it, we start grieving things that were never ours in the first place.

2. Outgrowing People and Being Outgrown

This is often the phase where you experience incompatibility with friends, classmates, or colleagues. It comes with confused feelings, insecurities, complexes, and what not.

Friendships change.

Relationships change.

And so do you.

Sometimes loneliness is simply growth happening quietly.

3. The Feeling of Being Deserted

Unknowingly, you begin comparing your life to lives that are running on completely different tracks.

Someone is travelling.

Someone is succeeding.

Someone is falling in love.

And suddenly your own journey feels insufficient.

When comparison takes over, your mind starts feeding itself only negation, forgetting everything that is already present.

4. The Strange Comfort of Loneliness

Well, this is a darker side of neuroscience (we'll talk about this later).

Sometimes the brain gets dopamine hits from portraying ourselves as mysterious, silent, or misunderstood. We begin identifying with loneliness so strongly that it quietly becomes a part of our self-image.

And that can be comforting in a strange way.

So, that's it.

If you feel lonely, feel it.

Don't rush to escape it.

Understand where it is coming from.

Maybe loneliness is not always a sign that something is missing; sometimes it is simply life introducing you to yourself.

Happy experiencing!

-Shrutika V. Patankar ©️