Essay on... Youth Loneliness by Tafadzwa Ashely

This is a short essay on loneliness written by published Author, Environmentalist and ARTivist, Tafadzwa Ashely.

Loneliness

It’s okay to say you’re not okay. Loneliness has an association with mental health conditions. Can loneliness be cured?

When one can appreciate serenity and accept the quiet day as a blank canvas, the room before you can be as the sky to a bird. Loneliness sounds like such an easy problem to solve. Probably find a friend, reach out to someone who cares! Every time she tried to get out of her cage they all recoil, unwilling to offer an olive branch of hope and friendliness to the social leper, and so her anxiety deepens. At the tables are her imaginary friends in a transient community. We are born to need social bonds. We are born to need a sense of others, even if we are alone. Victoria had learned to fly solo, and to fly to new heights and see new views. She found enjoyment in being alone and as a coping mechanism to hide herself from the shadows of the world. Guess you could call her lonely, but over time Vicky had learned how to lessen the pain, adaptation. Convincing herself she can sustain with her imaginary friends gave Vicky’s primitive brain a little of what it craves, just enough to satisfy her thoughts. It is not simply a lack of company, though that’s part of it for sure, it‘s a black hole that grows, until all that’s left is a human-shaped shell too numb to feel the pain anymore. This loneliness was a vice on her heart, it killed her every day just a little bit more, taking what was once inner light and replacing it with a darkness that overshadows each moment.

Characterisation – Victoria, Community and Imaginary friends.

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Young Scot supports young people to share their own voices, views and opinions and works with partner organisations and professionals who are experts in different topics. The views expressed in this blog are those of the young people, organisations and/or individuals who have taken part in the blog, not necessarily the views of Young Scot.

Young Scot supports young people to share their own voices, views and opinions and works with partner organisations and professionals who are experts in different topics. The views expressed in this blog are those of the young people, organisations and/or individuals who have taken part in the blog, not necessarily the views of Young Scot.

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