031 - The cure for loneliness with Phil McAuliffe

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are many things men are often terrified of being and/or terrified of being seen as.</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">or being seen as - sometimes the reality doesn’t seem as daunting as other people thinking the reality is true.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being wrong, incapable, weak are a few of the big ones that I’ve mentioned on this podcast before.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And then there is another, one that carries with it so much social stigma it really only gets put in the darkest of corners for the saddest of people.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What is it that we fear being and being seen as along with these heavy hitters?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">LONELY.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Loneliness is a dirty word in so many places and in so many psyches, that we avoid even contemplating it.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a result, we struggle to even be alone.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’re with someone at a cafe, restaurant or bar, they get up to go to the bathroom. They’ll be gone a few minutes, maximum. And what do we do? We pull out our phones, we distract ourselves from a moment with ourselves.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are a society that fears being alone and much more, being lonely.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not only does it have this impact on how we view ourselves and the direct resulting impact on our mental and emotional health, but loneliness has now been clearly shown as a massive contributor acutely to poor immune function and chronically to reducing longevity.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Loneliness is something that so many people feel and experience in a kind of bastardised and self-shamed way.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And so, we must talk about it.</span></p> <p> </p> <h3><stron