Loneliness can be hard. It makes you think that you’ll be alone forever. Sometimes you get so used to it that you forget that there’s a life waiting for you to live it. Sometimes it’s safer than stepping out and getting hurt.
But that’s not the good kind of loneliness, that’s the destructive kind. There’s a side of loneliness that can be empowering. A side of loneliness that can actually save you from toxic people and situations. There’s a side of loneliness you’ll only understand when you try to make loneliness a friend rather than an enemy.
When loneliness becomes your friend, you’re not afraid of standing alone. You’re not afraid of taking the road less traveled and driving alone. You’ve already lived your worst nightmare, you’ve already befriended your biggest fear.
Because standing alone can be so fulfilling, so empowering and so liberating. Knowing you don’t need anyone. Knowing you can survive on your own. Knowing that you let people in because you want to not because you have to.
Standing alone is better than standing with the wrong people. Standing alone is better than changing who you are so you can please others. Standing alone is better than lying to yourself just so you could fit in.
Because loneliness will always be a constant in your life even if you’re surrounded by people. You feel alone every time you’re misunderstood. You feel alone every time someone you love walks out of your life. You feel alone when no one supports your dreams or your visions.
So instead of looking at it as an enemy, try to embrace it as a dear friend because it takes courage to stand alone and sometimes you find that courage when you’re not afraid of the dark. When you’re not afraid of walking alone. When you’re not afraid of leading the way.
The beauty of learning to stand alone is that it makes you befriend loneliness and when you learn how to befriend loneliness, you learn how to befriend the world. You learn how to live with others but you also learn how to live with yourself and that’s the most important lesson you can ever learn. That’s the ultimate test.
By Rania Naim for ThoughtCatalog