Anyone else feel terribly alone when they go to the store or run errands?

[dilapidatedMind]

It's a terrible sinking feeling. It's more acute since entering my 30s. I feel that i'll always feel this way. I felt it often throughout my 20s. I don't see how it can change since I can't even work.

 

[Mr2005]

Sure but I hope it stays that way. Last thing I want to do is to bump into anyone I know. It's a sad way to live I know and even sadder that there's less and less of those around. My fears are unwarranted, no one cares

 

[Painless_end]

I like to isolate myself from fools. I am ok with being and feeling alone. So it works for me.

 

[Meditation guide]

I like to isolate myself from fools. I am ok with being and feeling alone. So it works for me.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way.

 

[mathieu]

Actually running errands or going to the store kind of distracts me from my loneliness.

 

[Sherri]

I like to isolate myself from fools. I am ok with being and feeling alone. So it works for me.

Same as me....

 

[Jellyfish42]

Im 24 and the feeling for me is usually crowded loneliness (when you're surrounded by people but still feel like an outcast).

It's not always that bad, and it doesn't bother me that much. I just focus on what I need to get and the people kind of fade into the background.

 

[Silvermorning]

I mostly feel anxiety, cant relax when im out , l feel observed , judged, on my limping leg and unkempt look, ragged clothes (I almost always look like a bum,), unless i'm "disguised" as a "normalI human being", whatever that is, but then i stress out feeling so fake just to fit in ,

Im like a walking house in ruins, you can paint on top of it, make it look presentable, but the pillars are rotten at the core and collapsing

I feel lonely when i see happy looking families , groups if friends, couples, they all feel like a different species to me.

 

[k75]

I actually kind of dread running into people I know when I'm shopping or whatever. I prefer to go alone, and I'm really not bothered by not having people around in general. That kind of loneliness isn't really something I struggle with.

 

[Sk1n1M1n]

Im 24 and the feeling for me is usually crowded loneliness (when you're surrounded by people but still feel like an outcast).

It's not always that bad, and it doesn't bother me that much. I just focus on what I need to get and the people kind of fade into the background.

I also suffer with that too, I am not lonely being in my room on my own as I usually have the company of my dog and PlayStation 4 but when I am in the company of strangers or even people I know it can feel lonely but I spent all of my natural life alone with cat or dog it wouldn't bother me, I would feel relieved and glad, one less situation to "cope" with.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

Yes. I used to have this really bad.

From the ages of twenty until about forty eight I always had either a GF or my wife (now ex) for this entire span of years for all but six months. I would go straight from one relationship to another.

At the age of 48, I started realizing that I was using my significant other as a security blanket to help me overcome social anxiety issues. My sister encouraged me to start learning about concepts associated with codependency.

Some of these principles aren't completely applicable but the general concept I could easily identify with. I attended meetings and read as much as I could.

Now, for the first time in my life I am happy with myself and I am comfortable being out in public without my security blanket most times.

Techniques I have used in the past and I would suggest you consider is putting in earbuds with music that get you in the mood to be happy and content to be out on your own going to the shops and whatnot.

Music is an extremely effective tool for enhancing moods. I recommend it to everyone.

 

[okdoomer]

Most of the time. That's why I hate going out, because I compare myself to other people too often. I also work at a supermarket and there's always an aching feeling of loneliness when I see cute, young couples doing their weekly grocery shopping or buying snacks for each other. It's like I'm an outsider looking in and it's melancholic. Though I can also relate to the feeling of blending in a big city, and reveling in the anonymity.

 

[Ghost2211]

When I lived completely alone I would go to the store every day or two to feel less alone. It's annoying af to go to the store with kids.

 

[lighthousekeeper]

I like running errands for the most part, sometimes noise & lights can overwhelm me but other than that I like having my headphones in & choosing between brown & red lentils for 30 minutes.

 

[Xocoyotziin]

I used to be sort of agoraphobic and going outside would be like slamming into a wall of depersonalization and derealization. It wasn't a lonely feeling but the feeling of being separated from reality was one of aloneness.
I feel alone at conventions and social gatherings though, like looking at all those people having fun and mingling, I think to myself that this is what I've denied myself by choosing to live the way I do, and there's little hope of turning back.

Haha my phone autocorrected sort into dirt and aloneness into lameness. You know me too well google.

 

[1DayItWillBover]

i work at a grocery store so its sort of always there.

 

[TerminallyAlive]

Any time I'm around people, it only seems to emphasize how alone I am the rest of the time.

 

[greebo6]

Sometimes because I'm only ever shopping for alone and for one while so many others are there shopping together in a 'couple' . Reminds me of loneliness. Especially my own.

 

[Rue89]

I don't feel lonely, but more like an outcast, afraid that I'm annoying other shoppers, getting in their way, etc.

 

[happyhappyfunny]

Yeah absolutely! I dont have troubles doing anything alone normally, since i rather enjoy being alone, but running errands dreads me for some reason. Especially at grocery stores. They just freak me out.

 

[Xocoyotziin]

Yeah absolutely! I dont have troubles doing anything alone normally, since i rather enjoy being alone, but running errands dreads me for some reason. Especially at grocery stores. They just freak me out.

Grocery stores and places like target and especially walmart make me feel trapped and instill a sense of dread in me too. Like a primal fear of the machine that created these monstrous buildings and its intent to eat me alive, but super visceral and not at all abstract or conscious until I reflect on it later. Makes me want to run out into the woods lol but I can't buy my stuff there. Plus all the products lined up, repeating, just sitting there dead on the shelves gives me sensory overload that tilts me into dissociation.

I don't know if that's at all how they make you feel but they freak me out too, especially when I'm alone.

 

[RedFoxSwims]

I tried having friends and they all fucked me over so now I'm a recluse by choice. It's a better way to live no need to put up with someone else's life and bullshit. Sorry that you feel lonely. At least you have this place.