Being away from someone you care about can be tough on you. There are both physical and mental health effects created when you miss someone. It creates this empty feeling in your stomach while also sharing similar characteristics to the feeling of loneliness. This happens to us because, we as humans, tend to crave some level of social interaction. Being the social beings that we are, not having this level of social interaction is often what leads to this empty feeling. So what can you do to help your health when you’re missing someone?
Take care of yourself:
Taking care of yourself should always be one of the first things you do when you’re feeling down, upset, or lonely. This can be done in a variety of ways too. Try spending some time doing things you enjoy. This can be things like hobbies, family time, listening to your favorite music, or just doing anything that you know you will enjoy. It can also mean making sure you have healthy habits, such as sleeping the recommended amount of time every night, eating healthy foods, spending time outside, and so on. Find some things you enjoy doing for yourself, and start doing them on a regular basis.
Divert your mood:
Find things to keep your mind from wandering or going to a dark place. Similar to the tip above, it helps when you have things that you enjoy to go do. Watch your favorite movie or TV show, try out a new movie or TV show. All you have to do is find something that can keep you entertained and distracted for a few hours when your mindset is being negative.
Express your emotions:
If keeping yourself distracted or entertained isn’t working, then it’s time to truly address your feelings. A good starting point is to write out how you’re feeling. When you miss someone, your emotions can be thrown all out of whack. Writing everything you’re feeling out can help you better put your feelings together. You can also try talking to another friend or family member about what you’re feeling too. If neither of these options is cutting it, talking to a professional is another great route. Addressing and expressing how you’re feeling is always a good starting point to getting yourself to feel normal.
Make new connections:
One of the best ways to avoid that empty feeling in your stomach when you miss someone is to start making new connections. This means to go out, make some new friends, and form some new relationships. You can never know too many people. The more people you know, the less likely you are to feel lonely. It creates a lot more opportunities to find things to do with people and keep yourself entertained.
Hangout virtually:
While this tip doesn’t apply to everyone’s situations, it’s still important to talk about. When you miss someone who is far away or temporarily gone, virtual hangouts are the best way to spend time with each other at a distance. Virtual hangouts can include playing a game together online, video chatting, streaming a movie together, having a video chat date night, and so on. There are tons of options to stay connected with someone virtually. All of which will help you fight off the feeling of loneliness.