Shameful

Loneliness is so shameful - to say I am lonely is to express a terrible vulnerability that is repellant to others. The person who complains that they are lonely creates an uncomfortable void around them; this sort of openness, this vulnerability is embarrassing, unsettling. Social isolation increases around the lonely person, and the loneliness is compounded. Shame itself, shame of loneliness, causes us to shut off parts of ourselves and to shy away from connection. And then the loneliness generates more shame.

I would like to be able to say, 'I am lonely', but it would be like setting off a bomb that repels everyone around you - except the predators - it would be counterproductive.