4 Ways Journaling with a Coach can Help with Loneliness

Loneliness happens to all of us. Sometimes we lose someone very close to us, such as a spouse or immediate family member. Other times we lose touch with a friend or leave our coworkers behind for a new job or retirement. The truth is that humans are social creatures by necessity, and when we lose a meaningful relationship, we experience unprecedented amounts of loneliness. 

Fortunately, loneliness is not a permanent problem. Journaling can help — specifically, journaling with a partner who reads what you write, thinks on it, and responds. That’s the purpose of The Journal That Talks Back: a service dedicated to one-on-one communication between you and a qualified responder who asks the right questions and provides support.  

This kind of journaling can help cure loneliness in its own right. However, it’s also useful for much more than that. Journaling with a qualified responder can help you move past the source of your loneliness, navigate socializing with others again, and more. 

Read on to learn four crucial ways journaling with a responder can help with loneliness. 

Journaling with a coach is an alternative to therapy for loneliness

Maybe you’re not in need of therapy. You’re experiencing loneliness for one reason or another — you’ve lost a partner, ended a friendship or are afraid to look for love again — but you’re not interested in having that kind of conversation in a therapy format. Maybe weekly therapy is too frequent or too brief for the kind of loneliness you’re experiencing. 

If any of these situations apply to you, journaling with a responder might be a better fit.  

By being available as often or as little as you need it, certified responders are there for you when they’re needed, instead of during a one-hour weekly rigid schedule. You control the conversation as well: with a responder, you’re allowed to choose what you’d like to talk about, rather than being prompted by a therapist.  

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Certified coaches can help you get out there again

Whatever the cause of your loneliness, it’s true that loneliness begets more loneliness. When we’ve lost a source of companionship in our lives, it can be extremely hard to open up again to others. Whether you’re looking for a new love interest or you’re simply in search of a new friend, it can feel exhausting, emotionally taxing and frightening to “put yourself out there.”

Fortunately, certified responders can help you gain the confidence and tools you need to make socializing less demanding. Your journaling partner will help you dig deep and understand how you look at your loneliness so that you can reposition yourself for success when making new relationships. ‍

Journaling with a coach can help you move past the source of your loneliness

When loneliness hits, it’s hard to confront it. We don’t necessarily want to look at the source of our loneliness, because the source is usually painful. But moving past loneliness is a key part of removing it from our lives, and as such, it’s important to find healthy ways to face and surmount loneliness. Journaling with a qualified responder is one such way. Your responder will ask critical questions that will help you look at your loneliness in a new way — you might just be surprised at what you learn about yourself in the process. 

Coaches provide meaningful relationships in their own right 

We’ve talked about how to move past loneliness and meet new people again, but there’s another component of journaling with a responder that’s especially helpful when it comes to loneliness: the responder themselves! It’s easy to overlook the relationship you develop with your responder, but the truth is that responders are dedicated to communicating with you and navigating the source of your problems together. Loneliness is a lot harder to maintain when you’re working hand in hand with someone who wants to help you. 

Because you can journal as much or as little as you’d like with your responder, you can choose when you want to talk, too. That means if you’re not feeling lonely, you’re not obligated to journal with your responder. But if you’re having a tough day and need someone to talk to, guess who’s there? That’s right: your qualified responder. They will respond to your journal shortly after, often providing real-time feedback to your thoughts and feelings as they happen. 

With enough time, you’ll develop the kind of rapport with your responder that can help cure and move past loneliness.  

Don’t be afraid to let go of loneliness

When we get lonely, sometimes we think it’s because we deserve to be. We think that we are unworthy of the kind of companionship we’ve just lost. That’s simply not fair to think, however — loneliness happens to everyone, and is deserved by no one. You deserve to experience the kind of wonderful friendship, love or close bond you once shared with another again, and journaling with a responder can help you to do it.

If you’re interested in moving beyond loneliness, visit The Journal That Talks Back for more.