Mr. Lonely is a timid, introvert man. He always wears a floppy hat to hide his eyes from contacting with others. He has no family and no friends, just lives in a cold and wet house by himself.
In the morning, he got up at 5:00 o’clock to buy food for a day living in a market in case jumping into other people.
For a whole day, he sat in the house doing a thing called writing. The book was titled as “The Benefit of Being Lonely”. During breaks, he played some music to cheer himself up ”lonely, I’m so lonely. I have nobody, of my own…..”Then he continued to work.
When the night approached, he folded the curtain to prevent any light penetrating into the room. He even ignored that groups of old ladies dancing in the square with a lot of joys outside.
One day, I met Mr. Lonely in the corner of the street and asked him:”Mr. lonely, why you look so upset?” ”I am afraid that no one likes my writing.” He replied. “Relax. Why don’t you come out to have fun with people?” “I’d like to. But what if people don’t like me?” I tried to persuade him how wonderful the outside world is. He just kept negative self-assumption of others and preferred to staying in his own world.
Who’s Mr. Lonely? It’s part of me, part of you. He lives in our body. He will show up incidentally when you feel empty in life; when you lose yourself, when you’re isolated from others. Almost the same time last year, I was thinking of leaving the work I can’t get more value but without any purpose, Mr. Lonely came to visit me very often. I found myself can’t focus on a specific task for a long time. The consulting field looked cool, but how can a person without any academic background performs well? The teaching job fits to my education background, but I can’t feel any passion standing on the podium. The journalism profession seems challenging enough for me, but how can I stand for long-term, tedious business travel in hard condition? I kept thinking without any action. I was reluctant to talk to anyone. The lonely feeling was creeping from feet to face. Look over the contact list, I found no one to talk to. I hated Mr. Lonely. Why I was trapped by him? Oh, poor Mr. lonely. I don’t need you anymore. Please leave me.
To make Mr. Lonely peaceful, you really have to learn to be with you. The first step is to go outside. Once you have the courage to share your ideas with others, you’ll get benefit from it. The second step is to find the right type of people to talk to. If not, you’re wasting your time. And it won’t help you getting along well with Mr. Lonely. The third step, try to focus whenever you’re doing. Free yourself from the modern technical products, such as Weibo, wechat. Etc. In toastmasters, I found myself could stay calm with Mr. Lonely. I’m not alone anymore.
Listen, it’s breath. Inhale, exhale.
Listen, it’s your heartbeat, so vibrant and strong.
Look, all the faces around you are beautiful. They’re the people similar with you, inspiring you, helping you achieving your goal. You’re not alone. Once you feel lonely, join toastmasters meeting.