The pandemic caused many of us to suffer from isolation in almost every aspect of our lives. Being stuck in our homes, people were prevented from being with one another. They were forced to resort to other ways of communication like text, voice, and video messaging as alternatives. Although these can provide some help, many feel that these are inadequate. A sense of belongingness in the community is what we look for. This stems from that feeling that we matter to the people around us.
This sense of belongingness can be beneficial for everyone, so it is crucial to evoke this concern in every member of society. To help those affected by the pandemic, we can always try to reach out, not just to others but also to ourselves. Here are some ways to look inwards and find this sense that we are looking for is none other than ourselves.
Letting go of the “I don’t belong anywhere” belief
Many of us think that we can never belong no matter where we go and who we are with. But most of the time, this is just our pessimist selves talking. We do belong somewhere. We will always have someone who truly cares about our well-being, and we have to acknowledge and appreciate them. Sometimes, we tend to focus on our failed interactions with other people, our different beliefs, and difficulties while growing up.
But we have to look at them in a different way. Instead of “Their beliefs are different from mine,” it can be “My beliefs have some little similarities with theirs.” Instead of “I had a hard childhood,” it can be “My childhood made me strong.” Instead of “I don’t belong anywhere,” it can be “I belong in the company of my friends and family.”
Practicing Self-Acceptance
This is probably one of the easiest to state but the most challenging thing to do. Accepting yourself for all your flaws and imperfections is a daunting task that few of us can do. Self-acceptance can open a lot of positive reinforcement within ourselves that we have probably long neglected.
Although we cannot fully achieve this in just a short time, we can take small steps towards it and make life better little by little. This will help us view everything about ourselves in a more positive light instead of hurting whenever we think of our uniqueness.
Socializing
As much as we should find a level of comfort in ourselves, we can still find support in the company of other people. We all know that it can be difficult to socialize in this restricted world. But as pandemic protocols are being lifted, we can slowly go back to our former practices with only a few safety measures to keep in mind.
Socializing with new people as well as our present family and friends can help avoid mental health issues. Mingling with others can help mitigate mental problems like anxiety, depression, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, which may need to be observed in neurological disorder treatment facilities. Reaching out to others should always be the next step after being at peace with ourselves.
Learning to cope with rejection
Probably one of the primary reasons many of us are afraid of socializing is our fear of rejection. This can be felt in many situations in our lives. It can be our childhood when we want to make friends with other kids or in our romantic lives when we start dating a partner. It can also be in our careers whenever we enter job interviews and even in old age when we feel like our families don’t want to care for us.
This fear can hold us back from doing many things that can help us feel like we belong in our society. And even when we do get rejected, it can take much understanding, self-affirmation, and time to recover. But no matter how long it takes, rejection should always be seen as an open door rather than a missed opportunity.
These steps are some of the best ways to achieve a sense of belongingness without asking for a lot from other people. These will have us look into our hearts and minds to reevaluate our thoughts and feelings and reprogram them to our advantage. We don’t have to put much effort into it. But doing our best in these tasks should immediately make us feel more comfortable in our skin and community.
What matters is the support and positivity that people can provide for us, not the number of people we feel accepted by. But in turn, we must also reach out to others, especially those that feel the same emptiness of not belonging anywhere in the world. This should be our way of giving back to society after we find ourselves reintegrated into its ever-changing circles.
