A Loneliness Epidemic

Worth Your Time!

Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively

**This Week’s Recommendation:**

***"Considering Loneliness"***
**Truth In Love Podcast #408**
**Listen** **Here** **or on Apple Podcasts**
***Length: 16 Minutes***

"Like a shrieking smoke detector or an annoying hazard light flickering on a car's dashboard, our painful emotions often function as indicators that we need to examine something in our lives more carefully - something is not as it should be, and there may be danger ahead." - Lou Priolo

Why It's Worth Your Time

Through Q&A periods with classes, journaling with students, and individual conversations, I can attest that loneliness is very common even among Christian school students. Any student can struggle with loneliness, including ones that you may think are doing great! Please don't assume that the young person in your life doesn't struggle with it.

Conversations need to happen, and this podcast with guest Lou Priolo can serve as a timely motivation to make those conversations happen. Less than two weeks ago, the U.S. surgeon general sent out an advisory declaring loneliness a public health epidemic, seeking to bring awareness to the problem and its consequences!

As Priolo notes in the podcast, loneliness can lead to a variety of poor decisions. Actions may be perceived as teenage rebellion, giving in to peer pressure, etc., but they may actually be coping mechanisms for loneliness - and until the loneliness is resolved, the behavior will be unlikely to change.

"Loneliness can be excruciatingly painful... People who experience loneliness often attempt to tranquilize their pain with reckless behavior like excessive drinking, illegal drugs, sexual promiscuity... you name it, they will tranquilize themselves because it is so painful."

How To Use It

"Son, are you lonely?" If you try to start a conversation like this, it's probably going to be a very short conversation! Instead, you could mention the surgeon general's recent declaration and/or the Truth In Love podcast, and then ask your young person what he/she thinks. "Do you think loneliness is a big problem today? What do you see at school? Do the people around you ever talk about it or seem like they're lonely? Why do you think it's so common in our society today?" Tell them about a time in your life when you struggled with loneliness. After you've expressed genuine interest, listened well to the answers, and shared part of your own life story, you've made it safe to ask them more personal questions: "What about you? Do you ever feel lonely? How often do you feel like that?"

If they admit that they do struggle with loneliness, start listing all the reasons they shouldn't feel that way. I'm kidding. Please do not do that! That's the fastest way to shut down a conversation with a young person and prevent them from talking openly in future conversations.

If they've opened up, you now have the opportunity to explore what's causing it and help them find solutions. This doesn't have to happen all in one conversation: "Let's talk more about this very soon when we have more time. I remember in my own life how hard loneliness can be, and I'd love to help you any way I can." I'd recommend promptly ordering Priolo's 55-page, short-and-to-the-point booklet titled "Loneliness: Connecting with God and Others," which is available on Amazon for $6.99. Sections like "What Factors Contribute to or Cause Loneliness?" and "What Are the Cures for Loneliness?" can help guide your discussions, and the two appendixes may be useful.

I know this can be an awkward conversation to have, but it's important - and it could be life-changing!