What do you do when feeling lonely?

I call a friend or chat with one on line.

Nothing. I’m fine with it.

I do not.

I use the computer or make a phone call.

I have found that when I feel lonely, and I mean the kind of lonely that you can feel in the middle of a loving family gathering or in the arms of your best friend, there isn’t anything that I can do to make the feeling go away. From experience, I know the feeling will pass in time and I make it into a positive thing and write. I am at my most creative when I am feeling lonely. I give my loneliness the company of my thoughts on paper. They are a good pair.

Go to sleep. I use this way to deal with most things.

I read, usually fiction. A good story totally takes me away from my life, the book itself feels like an old friend, and the author is a person who wants to say something to me.

I feel the same as @bkcunningham. My loneliness is often the kind that human companionship can’t mitigate. I usually embrace the feeling, squeeze out the painful aspect of it, and find activities to fully engage my mind. Those activities might include projects at work, difficult brain teasers, a really good read, etc.

Music, Music and more music.
and did I mention music?

Since Milo arrived, I always have company…of a sort. He still makes me laugh at least once a day.

Feel content and go on with my life. People can be quite irritating at times with all their pesky questions about me.

Hm. I don’t really feel lonely when I’m alone. When I feel lonely it’s usually when I’m among other people. I guess I just try to keep it up or just feel sad or keep a few tears inside. It’s not that often that I feel this way anymore, used to feel like this a lot at a certain time. If I feel lonely when I’m alone, I just eat some chocolate and then I don’t feel lonely anymore.

Cuddle with one of my cats or dogs…sometimes, more than one of them.

Drink.

Nothing. I rarely feel lonely.

It’s not too often but I’ll watch a movie if I can’t be out with a friend.

I let myself be absorbed into the routines of the day.

Maybe I’ll read something that chimes in with my mood.

Letter to My Wife on a Rainy Night

You ask when I shall return,
There is no knowing.
Night rain on Pa Shan floods the autumn pools.
Some day we shall trim the wick beneath the west window
I’ll tell you what it was like. Pa Shan. The night rain falling.

Li Shang Yin

It is very rare for me. When I am feeling out of sorts I take a long hot bath and wallow in pity for an hour or so, then it goes away, and I get back to my life.

It depends on the kind of lonely – sometimes I’m okay with it, other times I want to run from it and at other times, I indulge in the feelings and make myself feel worse.

@stardust, do you deliberately make yourself feel worse?

Listen to music, go on Skype, relax, watch TV (:

@bkcunningham Well, I suppose in not being proactive and doing something constructive to help deal with those feelings, one might say I do, but sometimes I don’t have the energy you know? So, I don’t see it as a deliberate thing.

I do understand, @stardust.

I jump online as well. Although it doesn’t solve my loneliness, it distracts me from it.

Music… records can always keep me company