Photo Credit: Andi Jetaime
It wasn’t so long ago that I craved solitude – just give me an hour alone so that I could hear myself think. My place on the introvert-extrovert scale rests at about dead center, but as a stay at home mom, the constant verbal chatter of my children often pushed me into a desperate need for silence.
God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6
When I was homeschooling my kids, activities like hiking with my binoculars at the ready to watch birds, swimming distance laps in the local pool, or reading engrossing fiction– all gave me that social break.
But now, it’s lonely time.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Psalm 25:16.
Our second child is leaving home for college. The first one has been gone for almost 3 years. The youngest is busy with her senior year in high school and, as is proper, needs me less and less.
It’s time to transition to working outside the home, but I don’t belong to a workplace community yet. And so, the time I spend in the house is often too quiet.
This lonely feeling is an alert to pay attention to my interpersonal connections – to connect more deeply to the Lord who promises to be my truest friend.
A man of many companions may come to ruin but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24
And it’s time to reach out in friendship to my husband.
I will adjust.
It’s going to be all right.
Bluebirds Always Fly 
Comments on: "O Solo Mio – Loneliness" (3)
It’s also a time to reach out to your female friends. I am feeling some of the same things. My kids need me less as they enter the teen years, and I left behind my deep, true friends when I moved to a new city. Now I am cultivating some girlfriends. It’s not as easy as it was in college or as a mom of young kids. Then, I was thrown together with women of similar inclinations. Now I need to go out and find them. It’s easier to just sit down with a good book, but I get up lonely.
“It’s easier to just sit down with a good book, but I get up lonely.” I love that truth! You and me both…. I also have let go of some social/work commitments this year that gave me that circle of belonging. I, too, need to go out and find them. What to look for? Depth of feeling, life experience that hasn’t led to bitterness, and a hopeful-cheerful heart about how we are going to get through this life!
Laure – like you I need the right balance between being around others and being alone. When my children were younger I always craved more time alone! Now, with four children almost all grown, the way I spend my time looks much different. I am walking this walk with you! I find myself seeking new goals in unfamiliar areas which stretches my faith and puts me in places I haven’t been before. I also have to squelch the voice that says, ‘the best of life is over, so give up’. Let’s choose life, Laure!