Loneliness.

We all feel lonely sometimes, but as a TCK, we experience a fair amount of it. We experience it when we walk into a new school, move to a new neighborhood, have left our friends behind, and feel further away from that place we used to call "home". I am feeling it right now. I have just gotten back from being home for three weeks, and let me tell you, returning to your empty flat sucks. Lucky for me, I know how to deal with it. It's one of the experiences you gain as a TCK. As I said before, we all feel lonely sometimes, you don't have to be a TCK to feel lonely. So I though I would share a few tips with you on have to deal with it:

• Distract yourself from the loneliness you are feeling. There are countless ways to do this, some of the way I distract myself it by going for a run, doing school work, or just watching a movie (a happy movie though, no sad movies that results in you crying, those won't help right now!)
• Make a list of things to look forward to. I love doing this when I feel lonely, because it makes me realize that I have things to do and people that want to do it with me! Right now, my list consist of going on vacation with my family for three weeks in the summer, seeing my grandparents in a few weeks, going traveling with a friend, and my exciting summer job. Write your list on a big piece of paper, make it nice and colorful, and hang it up on your wall. It's something you can look at everyday, and just reminding yourself of these things will put a smile on your face!
• Surround yourself with people! Sitting alone in your room really won't help the situation. If you are in a new school, join a sports team or a society to meet people. If you're just feeling lonely and can't put your finger on exactly why, make plans with a friend to go for lunch. Having someone else with you for a few hours make you realize that you're not alone, and the feeling of loneliness with start to diminish. 
• Lastly, don't ignore the fact that you are feeling lonely. Sit yourself down and think why exactly you are feeling the way you are. If you know why, it's much easier to figure out how to deal with it. If you feel confident enough, talk to someone about it. Don't feel like you have to keep your loneliness to yourself, this will only add to the feeling.

Just as I talked about in my last post about leaving, the loneliness does not get any easier. You do however learn how to deal with it. I am by no means saying that the above few points are the exact way to tackle feeling lonely. I do however feel that as a TCK, I have a decent amount of experience to talk about loneliness, and how to deal with it. This is just how I cope with it, what about you?