No Man Is An Island
By
Debra Braden
Do you feel many times that you are alone, that you are the only person
experiencing something less than pleasant, having more than your share of
bad luck? If you were in a
room of 100 people who were asked how many feel this way, more than half
the room would raise their hands.
This
example alone is proof that you are not alone.
Many, many people at some point in their lives feel these same
things.
Have
you noticed that one of the first things organizations that work with
addictions or mental disorders do is try to get people into “group”
situations? There’s a
reason behind that thought process. People
need to see for themselves that they are not alone.
This helps take the pressure off the individual that may think
they’re unique in their feelings and situations.
Eliminating this feeling of aloneness allows the individual to
begin to look at their true situation instead of the false impression
they’ve been carrying around. This
also brings about “connection
with others”, socialization.
When
we’re feeling alone we tend to withdraw from others. Humans weren’t made to be alone.
We need each other. Not
just for work, but for our health and well-being.
We draw from each other, we are social animals.
Look at nature. The animals that “travel alone” need no other of their
kind. They can truly exist
“on their own.” They can
live, feed and reproduce all by themselves.
They don’t suffer from their aloneness.
People do.
Studies
have been done on babies that show the mental and physical differences
between those who have nurturing interaction and those that do not.
The results have been astounding.
The babies that received nurturing care developed much better than
those that did not. You can
actually see visible differences.
This
world is full of organizational separatism, which compounds the feeling of
individual separatism. You’ll
find this separatism in religious organizations, social and economic
situations, racial situations etc. It
can really get ridiculous. Divisions
are created due to people’s weight, mental capacity, geographical
location, and smokers vs. non-smokers.
The truth is that we all are made up of the same things.
We all bleed the same type of blood.
We all have the same basic needs.
How then can we be separate and/or alone?
Each
of us has something unique in us that needs to be shared with others.
Interaction with others feeds us, motivate us, and in healthy
relationships can cause us to thrive.
Isolation creates and exacerbates illness, both mental and
physical. Some religions
require isolation, but that’s not the ideal environment for the majority
of us.
Think
of the times when you notice something particularly beautiful in nature.
Are you always satisfied to just experience this moment alone, or
do you sometimes wish you had someone to share it with? Sharing is a
natural inclination.
Never
think that you are alone. Never
think that you’re “the only one.”
You are a part of a whole. The
whole of human kind.
