There are times when nothing goes right, when loneliness weighs us down and sadness suffocates us. It happens to everyone, every day, to feel lonely and sad. Fortunately, there are little things you can do to feel better. Here are my 5 tips. This is what I do when I’m feeling sad and lonely myself.

1 – Accept

First and foremost, when you feel sad and lonely, it’s important to accept it. To accept the sadness and loneliness that weigh us down.

Too often, we’re tempted to pretend, or we want it to go away as quickly as possible.

But in doing so, we’re no longer aligned with what we’re feeling, and so the suffering is all the greater.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to accept the fact that you feel alone and sad.

In fact, it’s normal to feel sad and lonely. Because in life, there are always ups and downs. You can’t always be on top. Everything fluctuates, everything changes.

However, it’s not a question of moping around. It’s simply a matter of accepting that right now, at this very moment, you feel alone and sad.

Tomorrow is another day.

In other words, acceptance means diving into the present moment, aligning yourself with what you’re feeling, without rejecting it or becoming attached to it.

2 – Talk to yourself as if you were a friend to stop feeling sad and alone

When we feel sad and lonely, we forget one essential thing: we’re there for each other.

In fact, we tend to look outside ourselves for comfort, forgetting that we already have everything within us.

Indeed, we can be our own best friends, that person who listens to us with kindness, who reassures, comforts and motivates us.

To do this, I invite you to sit down in a quiet place. Take 10 deep breaths.

Then, imagine that what you’re feeling right now is a friend you love with all your heart feeling exactly the same as you: what would you say to comfort him or her?

Take a moment to express mentally or in writing what you would say to your friend to comfort him or her.

Then, as you offer these heartfelt words to your friend, offer them to yourself.

In other words, comfort yourself as you would a friend of yours whom you love with all your heart, to whom you wish all the happiness in the world.

I love this exercise. It helps me a lot when I’m feeling sad. That’s why I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Indeed, being a friend to me has changed everything in my life. I know how to comfort myself, but also how to reassure and motivate myself in moments of doubt. It has given me self-confidence and inner peace.

3 – Reconnect with life

When we feel sad, we feel cut off from everything and everyone. From yourself, from others and from life too.

In fact, we can no longer marvel at what surrounds us. And yet, life is magical.

A sunset, a butterfly flying, a rainbow, the stars… Everything is magic.

But when we feel lonely and sad, we close ourselves off to all this magic, all this beauty, without realizing that we’re falling into a vicious circle.

The less we see of life’s magic, the lonelier and sadder we feel, and the lonelier and sadder we feel, the less we see of life’s magic.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to reconnect with life, with its magic.

To do this, go and sit in nature, in a park, at the foot of a tree, by the water. Admire a sunset or simply watch the clouds in the sky, or contemplate a starry sky.

Take 10 deep breaths and smile, just like that, for no reason.

Let that smile, unnatural at first, become more and more genuine.

Look at your surroundings. Contemplate. Marvel.

Because life isn’t easy every day, but there’s so much beauty all around you, moment by moment. It’s up to you to open your eyes and your heart.

When I contemplate the stars or a sunset, I never feel lonely and sad. On the contrary, I feel vibrant with life and gratitude.

Indeed, nature brings us back to what is most essential: life is a gift, not a burden.

4 – Reconnect with others to stop feeling sad and alone

When we feel lonely and sad, we feel isolated from others, as if there were others and then there was us. As if a barrier separated us from others.

And it’s this false thinking that makes us suffer so much.

There’s nothing worse than feeling like the loneliest, saddest person in the world.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to do a meditation exercise that changed my life and is now one of my favorite rituals when I’m feeling lonely and sad.

Sit comfortably in a quiet place. Take 10 deep breaths.

Visit the world, visit everyone on Earth. Imagine in this moment what a person living in India or Japan could do. Imagine that among the billions of people who live on this Earth there is at least one person who feels even more sad and alone in this world.

In other words, let yourself be overwhelmed by compassion, gentleness, love, the desire to console and comfort.

You can even imagine taking her in your arms, saying sweet nothings to her.

You can let your tears flow.

Remember that you’re not alone. You never have been and you never will be.

In fact, there are people all around you who need your compassionate, loving thoughts. Stand up for them, show them it’s possible.

5 – Bring joy back into your life

And now it’s time to put some joy back into your daily life.

Because if you’re feeling sad and lonely, it’s because at some point you forgot to cultivate and nurture your joie de vivre.

When was the last time you did something that made you happy, that put a smile on your face?

So, right now is the perfect time to do something that makes you happy.

Because we all make the mistake of waiting until we’re happy to do the things that make us happy, but that’s not how it works.

In fact, it’s because you do things that make you happy that you feel happy in life.

When I understood this, everything changed in my life.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to do something that makes you happy, right now, and to do it again tomorrow and every day thereafter.

In other words, make your joy a daily habit.

Personally, to bring joy back into my life, here are my favorite activities:

Reading
Writing
Going for a walk in nature
Listening to my favorite music
Bake a cake (chocolate fondant)
Call my mom to talk about anything and everything
Watching my favourite show (Seinfeld)
So there you have it, my 5 sweet tips to stop feeling sad and lonely. I hope you liked them. Let me know in the comments.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover 20 things to do when you’re sad
Discover Feeling lonely: 4 tips for when you’re feeling lonely

I recommend this inspiring book:

The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill

Heather O’Neill’s novel intricately weaves the story of two orphans navigating a world that often just leaves them sad and alone. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Montreal, the book explores themes of love, art and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of loneliness. Through its enchanting narrative, the novel resonates with the struggles of isolation, creating a poignant reflection on the enduring power of human connection amid life’s challenges.

I considered stopping reading several times to find something lighter. And then I reached a point where I couldn’t stop. This is a book that will stay with me long after it’s over. A story full of tragic magic!
I loved it!

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself