Loneliness Awareness Week 2021

Good afternoon everyone!

Today is the start of Loneliness Awareness Week, which is running from the 14th-18th June 2021! To help celebrate this special week, we are going to be taking a look at what it has been created for, and what it hopes to achieve, in today’s blog! Let’s get cracking!

Hello & Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Loneliness Awareness Week was created by the Marmalade Trust charity, as a campaign to help raise the awareness & acceptance of loneliness in our lives. The week is designed to encourage these meaningful conversations on the topic of loneliness & to use them as a way to help us all manage the feeling. Marmalade Trust strive to change the perception of the term ‘loneliness’, from a condition to an experience.

Here is a video that Marmalade Trust have made for LAW (Loneliness Awareness Week):

Loneliness is a very natural thing, it’s crucial that we do our best to remove the stigma surrounding it.

If we look at everything that has happened over the last year, we have seen a drastic rise in the number of people who have/still are experiencing loneliness/isolation. COVID-19 & the lockdowns have already caused so much disruption in our lives, please do not let it result in a sustained rise in loneliness.

The theme of this year’s Loneliness Awareness Week is acceptance.

What can we do to combat loneliness?

When I think on the topic of loneliness, my mind often ventures to a quote by the author Gail Honeyman, where she says “We can all fight against loneliness by engaging in random acts of kindness.” It’s a lovely quote, isn’t it? One that is filled with feeling & is surely something we can all resonate with!

One of the number one ways that you can combat loneliness is to reach out. This can be if you feel like you are feeling very lonely, or it can be from the point of view where you are checking in with a friend, colleague or family member to see how they are doing.

I know I say it a lot on this page, but you really do never know the difference a message can make. If you, or somebody that you know, is experiencing feelings of loneliness, please do try & send them a message, you can even drop them a quick call, whatever you prefer!

Random acts of kindness are said to go a long way when it comes to loneliness, so why not try & do some more of them? It could be something simple like complimenting someone, to offering to go for a coffee, whichever you would like 🙂

This past year has been difficult enough as it is, don’t leave people to go through it by themselves. Let’s start making a difference here & now in breaking the loneliness stigma!

Thank you all for reading today’s blog, what do you think? Are you going to be doing anything to help support Loneliness Awareness Week? What do you do when you are feeling lonely? What’s one thing that really cheers you up in life?

Be sure to let me know your answers to the above questions, and any other thoughts that you may have, either in the comment section below, or though our Facebook page!

Thank you all for reading & I hope you have a great day!!