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I’m not lonely. Alone and loneliness are two unique points. This morning I met my buddy A. (who I wrote about for an post I published in Good Housekeeping magazine) for coffee and we shot the breeze. Sitting outdoors in the morning air with a buddy just before the sun began beating down was a good way to start off the day.
And then we every single went our separate methods A. back to her loved ones and me back to my apartment and to my rescue dog Shelby, to recharge my batteries, to create, and work on my mental wellness organization. That’s my concept of a fairly great day.
I have great pals. I have social worker pals from when I used to work at my job in Queens — the job that went south right after I attempted suicide in 2014. These pals knew me at my darkest and I do not have to place any fronts up for them. They accept me for who I am and really like me unconditionally. We all meet for dinner about when a month in Queens, close to our old workplace (the workplace moved places about 5 years ago) and we ordinarily have a wonderful time.
Speaking of unconditional really like, I have to mention my brother. He is my ideal buddy, staunchest supporter, and most significant cheerleader. I do not know exactly where I’d be devoid of him. It’s wonderful to ultimately have a partnership with him as an equal, not as his sick sister. He lives about 30 minutes away, and whilst we might not see every single other as generally as we’d like (I’m working six days a week suitable now), we generally verify in with every single other with calls and/or texts.
I have my writing pals. Writers are a neighborhood. Right now I’m not in a class or workshop. There is a workshop I’d really like to take but it conflicts with 1 of my late nights at work. I’m beginning to freelance which suggests the final 15 years of writing, participating in workshops—giving and getting feedback—submissions, acceptances, and rejections, largely rejections, have begun to spend off. Thank you to all my instructors, classmates, and everybody who has offered me feedback and encouragement along the way. Writers are actually a neighborhood.
I have my entrepreneurial pals. In 2018, when I had the concept for my organization, I took a starting 60-hour entrepreneur class. I enjoyed the class and my classmates. After the class ended, a group of us met consistently for assistance, to exchange suggestions, accountability, and to have exciting whilst carrying out all of the above. In 2021, I signed up for What If, a course run by VC Stephen Hayes who dealt with bipolar disorder and addiction. He created What If as an 8-week behavioral healthcare startup accelerator system. I was on the explorer track, so I didn’t get to pitch my organization, but when I have some income, I can return as a builder. All the cohorts are on the identical Slack channel, so we all remain in touch and updated with what every single other is carrying out. Simultaneously, I became a element of Ossining Innovates (OI), a more nearby accelerator system for entrepreneurs that helped me pivot and shape BWellBStrong into the organization model it is today. OI was a little system with only nine participants so we all got to know every single other nicely and I’m nevertheless in touch with some of my classmates today.
And then I have a number of pals I cannot categorize as coming from anyplace in specific and extended loved ones such as cousins who live in a variety of components of the nation, such as Florida and Louisiana.
So yes, I live alone, but I’m far from lonely. I have an active social life with pals and loved ones and it is essentially work to strike what I think about an excellent balance in between alone time and social time.
Source: © Andrea Rosenhaft
