How do you cope with loneliness?

[Capybara]

The short answer is I don't.

The long answer is that I used to cope extremely unhealthily. I used to have "maladaptive daydreaming"* since single digits, so I spent so much of my life just living in my head dissociating. Which is frankly has ruined my life and I don't recommend doing, ever. Sometimes it can't be helped, but I do not think dissociating is the way out. The moment I broke out of it, it made my state intolerable and more willing to try to escape it. Otherwise I spent my childhood, teens, and 20s on hobbies. I used to have pets growing up, playing games, I drew and listened to music. I find that creating was my main way with living with this, my main regret is I never published it as a way to connect with others.

The other thing is a lot of people nowadays are lonely. One thing that always frustrated me was the concept of "silent admirers", so I've slowly started to just tell people positive things I think about them. Even if it isn't eloquent or constructive, just an "I appreciate this" can be enough. For example, after I deleted my Twitter, I sent an artist I liked a long DM about my respect for them because I didn't want to be parasocial bystander. Things like that. I noticed it was at least easier to have fun online pre-2015 or so, and the parasocial "content mill" treatment of people is a huge part of the problem. Send DMs, emails, guestbook entries, etc. Add someone on Discord if they list theirs public or ask for it.


*(I'm using this as a description of behavior, FYI, it's not a recognized disorder but can be a symptom of PTSD/autism/OCD/etc.)