We all need support. Whether you are a working parent, a single twenty-something, someone struggling with a lifelong disability, or the person that seems to have it all, you can’t do it alone. Life is tough. We face new pressures, and whether your life is a constant struggle or everything seems to go your way, you will encounter issues, problems, and setbacks along the way. Even the most confident and powerful seeming people face the occasional internal struggle.
Without support, these things can drag you down. You can internalize your problems. Bottling things up and avoiding talking about what’s wrong. You can try to force yourself to be happy and forget your worries, but that rarely works. You can start to let your stresses ruin your enjoyment of life. Without a support network, when something does go wrong, or you need help, it can be hard to know where to turn.
But, the modern world is a lonely one. We spend more time with computers and other screens than we do people. We work long hours, and many of us are stressed out at least some of the time. Knowing that you need a support network is one thing, but finding the right one is something else entirely.
Cut Negativity
Many of us cling on to friends out of loyalty. We keep in touch with friends from school because we’ve known them for a long time. Our Facebook friends list is filled with people that we haven’t seen for years and don’t really know at all. We’re surrounded by people, but that doesn’t mean that they are the right people.
Do you have friends that only ever notice the negatives? Are there people on your Facebook timeline that are always sharing things that make you angry? This kind of negativity can bring you down, even if you don’t dwell on it. Don’t be afraid to lose friends. It’s better to have a few good friends that lift you up, then lots that bring you down.
Don’t Underestimate Online Friends
In our lonely world, many of us chat with people on Twitter and other social media sites more than we do the people that we know in real life. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If there are people online that you’d love to meet up with, trust and confide in, and they offer you support and advice, they are real friends and these relationships matter. Online support can also come from sites like shift.ms and can be invaluable.
Try New Hobbies
If you find that you and your friends have drifted apart over time, and you aren’t close to people at work, you can feel very alone. This can be even worse if you work from home, or largely on your own. You might feel as though you hardly see people and you are close to no one. It can be hard to meet new people as an adult. Certainly much harder than it was when we were at school.
Trying new hobbies is a fantastic way to meet new people with similar interests. Head to your local library or community center to see what is on in your area.
