What exactly is loneliness?

That is what! I have dad all the time. I will surely miss him. That said, I am not sure it will break me down so bad as to send me in any depression telling me life is not worth living.

@vandana7 Very true.. Missing is very different from going into depression.. There is a lot of dependency involved.

@Plethos You are looking from your perspective. Here, it is not as easy.

And they make us feel abnormal about not needing others for emotional or social purposes. Sigh LOL.

@vandana7 - but as people who enjoy being alone, its easier for us to walk away.

There will come a time when Internet will become old fashioned. LOL. Virtual friends would move on. Already many people have stopped using facebook. The younger generation will be around, and there will not be much in common to discuss with new technologies and words. May be typing or sitting before the computer will become difficult or eyes will strain too much. The period may be as little as an year or two. But each day would seem long. Still, I feel confident that I would not need another person other than to do paid services.

@SIMPLYD I am not. Right now dad is there. But I can always share a smile with my househelp or my neighbors and their kids, and shopkeepers, bankers, etc. Right now, all that is possible. There will come a time when all these will disappear and so will virtual friends. TV ..I might not enjoy because ears and/or eyes might give way. Likewise reading.

@vandana7 You mean you are alone in your house?

That is when we are able to talk or visit and they are around. What when they are not around, or we are not able to get that recharge on cell phone to talk to them.

@jstory07 I know somebody who lost her husband when she was not even 20. Out here back then they did not allow widows to remarry as they would have to part with share of wealth. The lady looked after her husband's brothers children and grand children and so on and so forth, cooking, cleaning. The world was all praises for her. But in her heart I feel she must have felt terribly lonely. They looked after her - in the sense she got food, a good bed to sleep, a roof over head, no abuse to my knowledge. They even took care of her health needs. But all that is something we would do even for our dogs, isn't it? A human being deserves better treatment.

@vandana7

Me too. When people keep saying man is social animal...my mind says...the guy who made that statement was no god, and he is actually responsible for many of the problems the world is facing today. I feel many people are quite content with themselves like you and me. But they are forced to move out of their comfort zone because of that statement being treated like a bible line.

@andriaperry Me too. I have tenants, and I have house help. I cannot avoid them. It does not mean I will get attached to them.

@vandana7 I deal with people because of business.

@arunima25 Absolutely...all it needs is the person moving out of the house or even watching some good television serials.

@vandana7 Most of the time it is a garb to be a social butterfly to hide so many of your inner insecurities. Many a times it is a escape from reality too.

@vandana7 Many a times I feel that most of the sufferings come because we become prisoners of our own thoughts and get trapped in it. It might come out of insecurity, inferiority or escapism.

Strange definition.

@vandana7yes it is difficult to understand

Yes, indeed. I feel it is inability to feel happy in the company of those around? It is then rejection of that society and inability to get the right company?

What symptoms?

@anya12adwi It overlaps with depression the way you have described it.

@vandana7 1- Not wanting to wake up or not feeling energised for the day to begin.. They feel like they never wake up and that feeling is intense.. 2- They feel insecure, isolated and always doubt themselves 3- They nomore feel valued by anyone.. They feel like the world can run as it is without them.. 4- Either they leave interest in everything or they get involved in something that can capture their attention for hours and hours.. 5- Even if they want to share, they feel like no one is present in the world to lend an ear to me.. And not any online beings but they need real beings nearer to them.. And so many more to go

I don't think you are wrong. :) Each one of us comes up with different set of experiences, some our own, some handed down by our elders, some by our relatives, friends, acquaintances. We are sum total of that, with additional inputs and thinking dimensions prompted by what we read online or watch on television. When there is nobody around that matches with our thinking and consequent actions (karma), feeling lonely is natural. Some are able to accept it. Others are not.

That sort of explains why I don't feel lonely. I do not celebrate functions that well - few with family friends, but mostly no. Was too busy with career to attend functions and festivals that I completely lost touch with it all.

@vandana7 Are you less busy now?

Thank you and that is unusual spelling for your name. :) There always comes a time when we cannot sit for long stand for long, feel tired or get sick when we are already having such problems. Would you need company or could you focus on your needs and banish the thought that nobody is around to listen to you even if there is somebody to bathe you and feed you and take you to hospitals, and give you medication and clean your room.

@yoalldudes There are always things beyond us. Nobody wants to reach that stage, but it is all in god's hands.

@vandana7 Such a situation is unbearable. I dont hope to get to that point. I intend to do a lot of gardening and yoga once I retire to keep my body healthy lol. I know I'm crazy but there is a little fighter in me as well.

That is so true..

But I like being alone! LOL. Honestly. I can do without coming to myLot too. I am not addicted. LOL. I don't like being superficial person. Spend an hour dressing go to the party ask a person how is your son or daughter, even when you are least interested in it. That is lonely. Not what I do or feel at my home! I indulge in that small talk because someday I might need them. That is selfish ...and with ulterior motive. Does not make me respect me if I do that.

Exactly. Some of us are not destined to feel that, while others dread it. I feel, even when I am lying helpless on bed, I would still be telling god you did not give me this and that, you did not prevent that happening to me, you have no business to judge me harshly after having troubled me so much and so on and so forth. LOL. The ultimate friend is always there to put up with us.