Loneliness in a World Full of People | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

Loneliness in a World Full of People

Despairing Thoughts on Empty Feeling

275
Loneliness in a World Full of People
Elizabeth Paige Modesto

Dear Me, Myself, and… You,

My thoughts have a tendency to wonder away from me. The hinges of my mind squeak with curiosity. My thoughts scatter themselves, roaming free. What a beautiful dilapidation the mind is. Offering solstice, but all the while restless desolation in its midst. Such can only be a comfort for those fully themselves.

I have a deep sense of loss inside me. Nestled behind my sternum, in my bones and in my blood. But whom have I lost, but myself? I hear the world around me, humming with life, a knowing life, a life of purpose, direction. But there is no such peace in me. Rather my soul rattles in the confines of my body, unable to breath with the thickness of my thoughts. I’ve filled myself with plumes of deep grey deliberations that only seem to bleach me of the life I once lived so well.

But more recently I have felt like I am the only constant in an ever-changing world. My understanding of people and who they are has been continuously shattered. Leaving me with a feeling of loneliness in a world full of people. All I know is that there is a knot in my stomach and a desire for reckless spontaneity.

Life is confusing, in some ways enthralling, but in other ways completely perplexing.

I want my soul to be free and to become comfortable with the presence of myself. The hope of the discovery of my place in the world, amongst and despite its people, fills my chest with a nearly intolerable ecstatic eagerness. To find what my purpose, what my contributions, what my efforts, will be and come. I aim for greatness.

Greatness: to lead a life not worth remembering, but rather worth not forgetting. No matter what we become, I know we at least have the potential to be great.

These ideas that persistently plague the confines of my skull insistently seek release.

And greatness is often too far to reach. Because as humans we are faced with indecency, of others, of ourselves. And here our eloquent nature is smudged by the lives others live. Disrespect, whether intentional or naive, is far too inevitable. And through this we come to put others into inferior positions, allowing, or rather, coercing each other to fall into a feeling of dehumanization of “other.” And here we become acquaintances and, in time, prisoners of loneliness. And yet here, in this pit of despair that echoes through your sternum and pounds even past the point of bruising, we are wholly and fully human. Here we feel. Pain. Anguish. Grief. Distrust. Hopelessness. We find ourselves trapped in a place where the only light that we can find is what exudes from the depths of our soul. And it isn’t easy to find, and it isn’t as close as we’d hope, but we find our souls here. When we cave into ourselves, out of despair, out of need and loneliness, we can either burst forth into a million stars, in rebirth, or we can collapse further, into a dark place, forever bitter. It isn’t our choice whose what happens to us, but it is our choice of what we become of it.

And I like the sound of redemption.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

These powerful lyrics remind us how much good is inside each of us and that sometimes we are too blinded by our imperfections to see the other side of the coin, to see all of that good.

545971
Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

The song was sent to me late in the middle of the night. I was still awake enough to plug in my headphones and listen to it immediately. I always did this when my best friend sent me songs, never wasting a moment. She had sent a message with this one too, telling me it reminded her so much of both of us and what we have each been through in the past couple of months.

Keep Reading...Show less
Zodiac wheel with signs and symbols surrounding a central sun against a starry sky.

What's your sign? It's one of the first questions some of us are asked when approached by someone in a bar, at a party or even when having lunch with some of our friends. Astrology, for centuries, has been one of the largest phenomenons out there. There's a reason why many magazines and newspapers have a horoscope page, and there's also a reason why almost every bookstore or library has a section dedicated completely to astrology. Many of us could just be curious about why some of us act differently than others and whom we will get along with best, and others may just want to see if their sign does, in fact, match their personality.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

20 Song Lyrics To Put A Spring Into Your Instagram Captions

"On an island in the sun, We'll be playing and having fun"

430600
Person in front of neon musical instruments; glowing red and white lights.
Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash

Whenever I post a picture to Instagram, it takes me so long to come up with a caption. I want to be funny, clever, cute and direct all at the same time. It can be frustrating! So I just look for some online. I really like to find a song lyric that goes with my picture, I just feel like it gives the picture a certain vibe.

Here's a list of song lyrics that can go with any picture you want to post!

Keep Reading...Show less
Chalk drawing of scales weighing "good" and "bad" on a blackboard.
WP content

Being a good person does not depend on your religion or status in life, your race or skin color, political views or culture. It depends on how good you treat others.

We are all born to do something great. Whether that be to grow up and become a doctor and save the lives of thousands of people, run a marathon, win the Noble Peace Prize, or be the greatest mother or father for your own future children one day. Regardless, we are all born with a purpose. But in between birth and death lies a path that life paves for us; a path that we must fill with something that gives our lives meaning.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments