Getting rid of loneliness not only is simple and
penn anent, but its elimination provides the double enjoy-
ment of decreasing unhappiness and increasing happiness
every easy step of the way.
The :first and all-important step in eliminating
loneliness is to recognize what it really is. And this may
surprise you! Most people think of loneliness as "being
alone" or "missing somebody". So they never get at the
real cause, and therefore don't :find a cure.
Psychiatrists say that loneliness is not liking
yourself! It is not being able to get along with yourself
when you are alone and your attention tends to center on
you as you imagine yourself to be. Loneliness is not
liking the quiet environment when you must confront your-
self with yourself and decide what to do next with you...
alone. It is not liking yourself even in a crowd and experi-
encing a feeling of withdrawal because of it until you feel
apart from others and "alone in a crowd".
Let's face it. The person you're going to have
to spend the most time with is you. All others, no matter
how dear, how companionable, or how interesting, cannot
be with you every minute or every hour or every day-and
for various reasons, the time may come when they will not
be with you at all.
Since you are going to spend all of the rest of
your life with you, you might as well learn to like yourself.
This does not mean be egotistical. (People are not nearly
as egotistical to themselves as they appear to be when trying
to impress others.) People, when they are alone, tend to
evaluate themselves very much as they really think they