On Loneliness: I feel u Maya

I read Maya's post and for some reason I was so relieved to know that there is someone who feels like I do. And I don't even know why I felt relieved because I know everyone isn't really as happy and social as they lead on, and everyone feels lonely sometimes. But in a time where everyone is posting the highlights of their weekends on snapchat and you're constantly being pummeled by happy people with happy friends, you kind of forget that people are normal like you and don't always feel happy like you think. I had a pretty ideal social life in high school, which I am really thankful for. I had a group of about 5 friends who I practically grew up with, and we are super close and have done so much together. Freshman year at Colorado College, in hindsight, I had a great group of friends, but in the moment I would always compare myself to everyone else and I still felt like I was lonely even though I had friends around me. Now, as a transfer student living off campus, I am finding it pretty difficult to make friends. I love my housemates and they are my good friends. I have class-friends but we don't hang out outside of studying here and there. I have made a few connections but nothing has really stuck. I guess I miss the closeness that I felt with my high school friends. But its taken me a while to realize I don't always have to be living the perfect life with a comfortable group of friends. It's okay for it to take some time to adjust. Social media, at least for me, makes me feel really lonely and makes me compare myself to other people. Ever since I've cut down my social media consumption, I have been feeling a lot happier. Not only do I just feel less anxious since I have more time to sit with my thoughts and not scroll through a feed, but I just feel better about myself. I am not sure where I am going with this, but I guess my point is that it's okay to feel lonely. Society constantly tells us that its bad for some reason to feel sad or alone, when I think it's perfectly normal. It only makes you more sad to think about how you are sad, and old makes you more lonely when you think about how lonely you are. The best thing to do is just accept that you're feeling a normal emotion. :)