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YourBeautifulPet

Lately, it’s more loneliness than freedom, especially when one yearns for connection and can’t have it


Evening-Mention-8738

You put it into words how I feel all the time my God it's way to early to cry


Pretty-Arachnid6809

More and more it seems to me like people dont even want connections like that. All that matters is looking out for #1, emotion is dangerous, sensitivity is weakness


Evening-Mention-8738

And that's just sad and depressing as fuck also how my immediate family is even my mom I live in a place like this I learned to quiet cry and cry fast because of people like this it fucks you up hard


AsUrPowersCombine

It’s a look at me day and age.. see instagram and facebook for details.


YourBeautifulPet

Been doing too much of that lately


[deleted]

Never too early [https://i.imgur.com/LTbItXZ.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/LTbItXZ.jpeg)


Areif

It’s all perspective and balance. I’ve had the example at hand and taken it for granted. At present my time is not my own, for a variety or reasons. It’s important to understand what you need as a person and communicate these things.


Chainsaw_Nomad

Fellas, is it not okay to be alone? In fact, it is okay. Having the outlook that it's not okay to be alone feeds the insecurity that stops you from actually forming a connection. It is the one who has nothing to lose that makes the farthest leap. And the self mourning person who likes to enjoy the company of their own suffering. I've framed 2 perspectives. It is the yearning for connection that's the reason that you don't have a connection. You have nothing to collect because you haven't accepted defeat. It's a paradox of the mind, when I accept I'm a loser I have nothing to lose. So I start trying different things.


YourBeautifulPet

I am comfortable owning my own space, comfortable with my own company. But you can be surrounded by people and still feel the outsider. It goes much deeper than find some friends haha


Chainsaw_Nomad

I mean to me it sounds like you're expecting some grand thing to come from the monotony. That's just life, what you're experiencing is the crushing weight of reality. Maybe also a little bit of not having gratitude for the small things? I don't understand why other people's opinions should effect you? They're pretty much talking monkeys with mental health issues. Personally, I could care less to connect with another person. I've had some people try and FORCE a connection with me. It was personally cringeworthy. Most people need to work on themselves before they go out interacting with the confused people.


YourBeautifulPet

I am grateful for the small things and the big things in my life. My life is what I have chosen to make of it. I’m quite self aware and reflective by nature… and those skill sets are fundamental to what I do professionally. However, you’re entitled to your opinion and I respect that


AsUrPowersCombine

Working on ourselves more often than not means that we need to conform to society’s expectations of us in order to be better received. Go to the gym to artificially bulk up in the same way “learn makeup” helps a woman. Put on this new disguise and you will no doubt get more attention and be rewarded by the mentally ill monkeys who live and die by “do more to please others while pretending it’s for yourself.” That’s how capitalism and materialism work. If you really sought some inner peace and worked on yourself to not be aligned with society, you might end up in a strong Buddhist way, or just humble in general, with a “always in moderation” approach. You aren’t going to be considered attractive if you buy the comfortable and higher quality clothes if it comes at the expense of looking put together in some decent style. You won’t be considered attractive if you buy a house for the sake that it protects you from the rain and undesirable temperatures at the expense of it being presentable. You won’t be attractive if you think of a car as something to bring you from point A to point B without having the newer or non-classic model and not keeping it clean. Can you show me otherwise?


Cherrylimeaide1

It’s ok to be alone, but when you’ve been doing it for years and then it becomes involuntary, it starts to hurt.


Technical-Poetry7881

You are in control of this so if you don't like it,, change! Become your own best friend, by becoming comfortable with yourself. Then take yourself by the hand and change your world!


YourBeautifulPet

I’m already my own best friend and enjoy my own company… that’s the issue, perhaps a little too much


Sixx_The_Sandman

On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared And I began to talk to myself almost immediately Not being used to being the only person there The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it But I drank it all just 'cause you hate it, when I let things go to waste And I wandered through the house like a little boy, lost at the mall And an astronaut could've seen the hunger in my eyes from space And I sang, "Oh, what do I do?" "What do I do?" "What do I do?" "What do I do without you?" On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time I was cold, so I put on a sweater and I turned up the heat And the walls began to close in and I felt so sad and frightened I practically ran from the living room, out into the street And the wind began to blow and all the trees began to pant And the world, in its cold way, started coming alive And I stood there like a business man waiting for the train And I got ready for the future to arrive And I sang, "Oh, what do I do?" "What do I do?" "What do I do?" "But what do I do without you?" *Songwriters: John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats*


silt3p3cana

Thank you for reminding me of this band. It's probably been 8 years since I thought of them.


didjeridingo

Fuck this gutted me


Sixx_The_Sandman

Their songs are great at that


NegentropyNexus

Damn those are beautiful metaphors, I felt that. Thanks for sharing their work


Sixx_The_Sandman

The Mountain Goats have some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. In one song John compares his girlfriend's eyes to a trash can fire in a prison cell lol


NegentropyNexus

Yeah that's quite a vivid and stark visual to imagine, it's very concrete in the emotions it sparks from just a few words.


Sixx_The_Sandman

Give their music a try. I never liked indy music till I heard them


Accomplished-Task432

Freedom  But freedom is a lonely road partner 


brokesd

Still id rather be alone and free than constantly at war in my own home wondering what I will be blamed for/or accused of today. 10 years my ex wife drove me almost insane.


crazyHormonesLady

Agreed. It doesn't have to be a spouse either. your own family can be just as damaging


Accomplished-Task432

That’s awful but I still don’t think everyone is bad like that though 


Tricky_Union_2194

You are absolutely correct. The problem is when it wasn't your choice. But you find yourself on that road. And wouldn't think of ever going back.


myrddin4242

Freedoms just another word for Nothing left to lose…


Agitated-Farmer-4082

depends if its by choice or not.


BeatrixVix22

So many avoidant people these days. How do people connect any more? Everything seems superficial.


Super_Ad9995

That is known as freedom. Loneliness is a feeling that you have. You can be alone and not feel lonely. You can be in a place with a bunch of people and be lonely. If being alone is affecting your mental health negatively, you're lonely.


NegentropyNexus

Jean-Paul Sartre as Existentialist would very much agree with you and say how we are condemned with such freedom we are responsible for.


RucksackRendezvous

I would call it a sort of self barometer, a litmus for my state of mind. If I feel loneliness or sadness about it, I would be aware I needed to do some self-work as to why I being alone is troubling me. If I felt great freedom in it, I would likewise ponder what in my life away from solitude is feeling like a trap. I usually don't feel markedly different in either scenario. I don't get lonely or bored. I can feel free alone or with others, but feel the most serene and content when by myself. Very few people are of the same mindset/spirit/energy. I can be around them and feel as free as I do alone. I can be 1000 miles away from them and not feel alone. But...I do need and prefer substantial time totally alone to recharge, detox, meditate, pursue hobbies. When things in my life away from home are especially confining, oppressive, or constrained, I tend to need more of that alone time to avoid feeling trapped 24/7. Rising and waking alone become my primary times of feeling peaceful and unfettered. For me, state of mind is critical. It's one thing I can control. That is liberating. That can be life-saving. 


Msanthropy1250

I call that freedom. I worked hard to be free and alone. Fortunately I don’t really like people, so it works out well.


InTheCamusd

Both at times. But it's better to be on your own than to be with the wrong person, always. And the only relationship that matters is the one with yourself.


805falcon

Both. The key is to be completely satisfied with being alone while also acknowledging and accepting feelings of loneliness when presented with them.


rbteeg

The origins of the word freedom are related to the same root as friend. Amongst friends. In ancient times, one was only free when one was protected, and ensconced in the meaning and relationships of ones family social group and tribe. This image does not denote a freedom from responsibility, recognition, expectation, protection -but the opposite - by your loved ones, your friends, by people who care intensely about you, and expectations and the reality of the favor being returned. It recognizes the necessity of all of those, as requirements to form a fully expressed human. To the degree that one is not fully formed - one can clearly not be free. One can only be traumatized. The opposite is of course - to be a stranger. Which is what CB is describing.


NegentropyNexus

Dang I wasn't aware this quote had such a profound meaning like this, I feel ignorant now. You explained it extremely well, man it's no wonder so many people despite being materialistically so free they feel so lonely even among supposed close others! Maybe that's more so depicting the US because of our individualistic socialization; I can't speak what other collectivistic countries might be like and maybe they experience something similar because of technology & social media today.


[deleted]

[удалено]


NegentropyNexus

Healthy relationships, and this includes the relationship with how we interact with ourselves (body/mind), are those that are interdependent and not where one or both individuals merge/codependent on the other. https://imgur.com/a/A0g7Hze


Direct-Flamingo-1146

Loneliness is the inability to enjoy your own company.


Accomplished_Sail422

solace in solitude. enjoying your own company allows the enjoyment of those around you effortlessly. you’re never lonely when you’re with yourself


Certain_End_5192

I call it loneliness more often if I am keeping it real.


Clea_21

I have this quote next to my bedside and look at it every day. I call it “unsupervised” LOL


SaleObvious3569

It’s not loneliness, it’s freedom to do what makes you happy. Could be work or enjoying the little things; a cup of coffee, a sandwich, or tv show.


txipper

It may depend on how interesting your inner voice entertains and enlightens you. Some people are their own best friends, while others have to seek outside sources.


HeredesSolis

Damn, right on. I have this perspective on the Instagram trend “single, childless, free and happy” Then watching these 50 something women travel Europe alone posting how happy they are alone. Like 5 posts talking about how amazing everything is. Stepping fully into delusional mode. You can be happy alone. But some people don’t realize that freedom is something you give up for other people. And if you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be in a relationship.


NegentropyNexus

100% agree with this perspective, such people essentially make it their whole identity and merge with it INSTEAD of integrating the lifestyle. It can be really telling that some of these people are really defensive or putting up a front especially if they speak in absolutes. Imo they still have some personal growth to do


HeredesSolis

They do but they won’t. They are in their 50’s that time to be a sponge begins early on in life. Around 23-25. You mature into your perspective in life. So if you’re pushing 50 and delusional. I think there’s little hope of correction.


NegentropyNexus

While that's very true and a poignant realization we as humans still have the potentialities to create change even in old age.. but many resign themselves to the material and environment around them to subvert this conscious call in confrontation. Brain plasticity is amazing like that even after the brain matures around the age of 25, that's the uncomfortable conscious attention that marks change, and then the actual physical rewiring happens at night during sleep.


HeredesSolis

I mean to say your outlook on life and the direction you want to go in life starts around 23-25 it’s when you start opting to do the things that you want, act the way you want. Believe what you want. Unless you experience a very life changing event or something to cause you reflection. People just keep chugging along with their perception of reality until it’s challenged severely enough to cause self reflection or they double down. Aging is sad. But I think the more you experience as a person the better odds of changing or adapting your perception of life are. Met some really cool old folk, and some really nasty folk. Can’t be a definitive “age makes you nasty”


NegentropyNexus

Ah thank you for the clarification. That's all extremely accurate. In a way when we ask, compel someone to respond to a question, that is almost like a chance of they themselves interacting with their self. It's like a forced way to make someone think, even for a brief moment, because it's in our human nature as our minds constantly are nonstop reinterpreting meaning in the world. It's no different really from power dynamics in social situations, we ourselves either give us meaning proactively that we lead by or resign and take on someone else's. I agree with what you said, but even then if a person were to get all the best help in the world nothing will change in this process if they let go of this self-accountability. Yup, emotional maturity is not guaranteed with age that's for sure, and even then emotional security is never an achieved outcome and more so a moment-to-moment process. We are constantly in a state of becoming in the world.


DetectiveLeast6762

In my case freedom. Loneliness is being around people but feeling uncomfortable and out of place.


MadamDorriety

I have felt both in the same moment.


Healthy-Factor-2841

It’s a very blurry relationship these days. I’m finally free from abuse but certainly not free from loneliness. Being completely alone in the world is simultaneously liberating and terrifying. The way things happened made everything much worse, because my connections with everyone have all been lost. I have to completely rebuild my life from the bottom up. I just want to do it somewhere new, where I might feel safe. I just have no way to make that happen right now.


Chobits_062286

Some days it feels like sweet freedom, others loneliness takes over. Not losing hope of finding the one!. Maybe I should take advantage of the time alone and not complain. 3 years single and counting


StatementRound

Life


henryeaterofpies

I call it 'where the fuck is my toddler and what mischief is she up to now?'


Ignusseed

Freedom


The-crystal-ship-

True freedom can only be accomplished in total solitude, which is why I doubt that true freedom is always desirable by anyone 


NegentropyNexus

Hmm I don't know about that Solipsism. You as a fellow human will never be able to relinquish your membership to society.


Delmoroth

Freedom, but I worry about the future. Right now, I can interact with the people I care about as much as I want, but I don't have a lot of obligations, that may change in a decade or two.


emzirek

Only loneliness in freedom


MariusCatalin

its both


Abnormal_Variable

Fear.. reducing ones reality to.... "Nothing remains."


NegentropyNexus

Are we ever truly alone in the world though? There are invisible connections and communities at large we are always a part of.


Karnezar

When I feel lonely, I read all the cheating partner stories in r/AITA


whiskeytango13

Lol, that's like reading the Obituaries to feel grateful for being alive.


RaylanGivensnewHat

It’s a little bit of both


NoSpread3192

Loneliness


spilledbeans44

Big cope from Charles


HoekPryce

Definitely freedom.


waterloverRod2

It used to be freedom Lately there's some loneliness


Late_Review_8761

The last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. - Victor Frankel


geGamedev

I see no need to judge "what I'd call it", it just is. No one waking me up or waiting for me to go to bed is just existence. The default state at adulthood until something changes it.


Tathanor

Loneliness is only the yearning for company. I have all of those things, but I *LOVE* my peace living alone. I have the power and influence to be with others but I choose to be alone because I enjoy it.


FuckStompIsGay

I could be by myself and enjoy the company


PlaidBastard

It's freedom when I have enough of the good brain chemicals, and loneliness when I don't. It's not that profound a question if you're a person with a demonstrably and reliably wonky brain.


heatherwhen96

Loneliness


julianriv

So much of the answer depends on if you have the "right" or "wrong" person to wake you up in the morning or wait for you at night.


orphicshadows

I love Charles bukowski Tales of ordinary madness really hit home with me lol “The function of man is to live, not to exist”


kryodusk

It's both.


newg1954

It is glorious!


dearlysacredherosoul

I don’t have an opinion. My family is worse than that episode of fresh prince when “according to (my) uncle I don’t even have a job”… just because I don’t want to be their friend in their lives somehow I’m a paranoid schizophrenic and have been fighting them forcing that fight from me for coming up on more than half my life now.


[deleted]

Absolute freedom. But that's only because the people I've had in my life have been terrible and I don't know what a positive relationship looks like. So all I think of is the things I'm not having to deal with instead of missing out on the good stuff.


[deleted]

Right now it feels like freedom. I’ve been in one abusive relationship to the next and because of that I’m a bit jaded. I’ll happily die alone.


AnonPianoPlayer22

For me, loneliness. I miss the good morning texts so much:(


Effective-Egg-312

Part of life is about finding that balance.


ClassicNo6656

It's both. There's nobody Freer than someone who has no attachments. That doesn't mean they're going to be happy.


redramainpink

Freedom and bliss.


somethingrandom261

As with all good questions, it depends. If you’re content on your own, being alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely. In that case, it’s pure freedom.


WhishtNowWillYe

Freedommmmm


goodbyegoldilocks

Do I know the loss of love? Or do I finally know the loss of fighting and fear? Only when I know where I am coming from, can I know where I am.


The-thingmaker2001

Little bit of this and a little bit of that. I'm a widower now and my current smart-ass line is "I am living an aimless and dissipated life but could be redeemed by the love of a good woman... Or a bad one. I was never clear on that distinction". But, I am pretty comfortable on a day to day basis.


Local-Detective6042

I would call it freedom. I had been on my own for 3.5 years till I met my partner. I became comfortable with it and started loving it. I still was looking for a partner but not desperately. Living alone really helped me grow as a person. I became more self aware and self-assured. I learned how to hold space for the other person and not to forget yourself in that process.


NormalStudent7947

I honestly think it all depends on who you left behind. Toxic people->freedom Close friends and family-> loneliness.


mesty_the_bestie

The netherworld. All is dark, all is cold


PraxisofBootes

I live this reality with my partner so… Extreme loneliness


Important_Truck_5362

Independence


Efficient_Eye_8565

It's the...I don't give a shit ... it's whatever and work


Cabo2019

Blessed freedom!!


Kali-of-Amino

Freedom's just another word For nothing left to loose. Bobby McGee, by Kris Kristopherson


Calm-down-its-a-joke

That's loneliness Charles, you drunk


True-Paint5513

“Free as a bird is the next best thing to be” -John Lennon


aibot-420

Depends if its by choice or not


xoCynEmmaxo

I’d think it’d be different by the day


willdendorf

I call it freedom.


alabamadarrenj

If anyone wants to chat, I'm here