Loneliness and Isolation

The first thing to understand that if you’re around people and you feel lonely, the part of you that connects to them is not the real you. It is the mask that you put on. That is why you feel disconnected. There are all these people around you, but they don’t get to see the real you — they get to see a version of you.

You put on a mask because you’re afraid of what people will do if you don’t have the mask. There is something inside that you don’t want people to see.

You are not in yourself because that is what you have learned. Something happened that taught you very clearly that when people see whats on the inside, its not worth associating with. That is when you start to put on the mask.

As a result, you discovered something dangerous — when you put on a mask, things get better for you. When you hide who you are on the inside, people treat you better. You become nicer, sometimes you even become a doormat. You do things for other people. You’re always available for them. You let people borrow money and you don’t ask for it back. You do all kinds of things to make people like you, and the world becomes an easier place to navigate.