Breaking the Loneliness Barrier: Unleash Your Wellbeing

Keywords: Psychological wellbeing, leadership development, resilience, coaching, mental health

Author: Dr Anna-Rosa le Roux
Date: 23 July 2024, Worklife Digital

Do you ever find yourself feeling isolated and lonely?

Loneliness isn't just a fleeting emotion; it can have serious implications for both your physical and mental health if left unaddressed. Defined as a subjective feeling of isolation when our social connections don't meet our desired frequency, loneliness has become a significant health challenge in our modern world.

Navigating the Abyss: A Personal Story

Recently, I coached an executive who had relocated to a new area with few friends and no family nearby. Despite being a high flyer in his professional global society and receiving regular invitations to present his research, he began to experience feelings of depression and purposelessness.

Working exclusively as a virtual consultant, he had limited personal interaction with colleagues, leaving him feeling extremely lonely and disconnected.

He found himself going through the motions at work, lacking the energy and motivation he once had. Feeling pressured to maintain his income as an independent consultant, he felt like he was simply going through the motions, devoid of any real passion or purpose: “It felt like paint by numbers”.

He came for coaching as he was struggling to find the meaning and purpose to give him the energy that he was used to.

To develop your wellbeing, you need confidence in your authentic self, a commitment to growth and purpose, and strong connections in your relationships. This involves answering key questions: “Who am I really? What gives me energy? What are the patterns in my relationships?”

To explore these questions in depth, requires to first, look at both the unconscious processes that influence our wellbeing, whether this is within ourselves, or externally in our group or organisational interactions. Second, unlike traditional psychology that focuses on what is wrong, positive psychology emphasises our strengths and explores how we can utilise these to adapt and thrive across different areas such as work, education, relationships and leisure.

Uncovering the Root: Attachment at Risk

Upon assessment, we discovered that his attachment levels were at critical risk. He found it difficult to form close relationships and depended heavily on his professional identity for validation. He felt uncomfortable in getting close to and depending on other people, including his professional colleagues.

Rekindling Connections

Did you know that research shows that people with high levels of attachment are psychologically more healthy than those that are low on attachment? They experience a stronger sense of belonging, have more hope and greater meaning in their lives.

Our client invested in nurturing his existing relationships. He learned how to manage and regulate his emotions as this helped him to communicate effectively, navigate conflicts and form secure attachments based on emotional resilience and empathy. He purged all toxic and counterproductive relationships.

With his newfound emotional resilience skills he was able to build a supportive social circle that provided him with the confidence and sense of belonging he needed. By relying on the support of friends and family, he found renewed energy and purpose in both his personal and professional life.

Take Action Today: Embrace Your Journey to Wellbeing

If you resonate with feelings of isolation or a lack of energy in your career, you're not alone. Sometimes, the solutions to these feelings can elude us, hidden beneath the surface. Reflecting with a professional can help uncover the underlying issues contributing to your sense of disconnection.

Ready to take the first step towards reconnecting with yourself and others? We invite you to participate in our free Psychological Wellbeing Assessment. It's designed to help you identify areas of improvement and reconnect with what truly matters in your life.

Identifying areas of psychological wellbeing that hold you back, and focusing on addressing them is key to developing a strong, healthy mindset. Our free assessment helps you identify your strengths (areas where you are an ambassador) and areas where you have room to grow. Recommended guidance also helps you to focus on and develop areas of weakness and provide insight in how to use your strengths as a leader for others.

Click here for your 15 min free assessment and diagnostic report.

WorkLife Digital is a global mental-wellbeing consultancy driven by the mission to improve the sustainability of businesses. Our psychological wellbeing tool, Worklife Quotient (WL-Q), is modelled on cutting-edge scientific research and provides organisation-wide measurement and intelligence on the mental wellbeing levels and psychological resilience of staff. WL-Q also assesses the impact of organisational practices (i.e. people and culture, leadership styles, organisational purpose and values, social impact) that have a direct influence on staff wellbeing and provides strategic recommendations on addressing risks and promoting strengths.

For more information, get in touch at anna-rosa@worklife.digital