Books
fromPsychology Today
8 hours agoIs Recovery Too Serious to Be Funny?
Recovery literature often overlooks humor, focusing instead on serious tones despite the potential for laughter in the journey.
#sober-socialising
#sober-socialising
[ follow ]
#mental-health #friendship #relationships #loneliness #psychology #personal-growth #dry-january #retirement
#solitude
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
17 minutes agoPsychology says people who genuinely enjoy being alone aren't missing the need for connection - they've located the one condition under which their full self is available, and that condition happens to require an empty room, and there is nothing wrong with that except that the world was not designed with them in mind and has been making them feel guilty about it ever since - Silicon Canals
Society often mislabels the need for solitude as a deficiency, while those who recharge alone are more emotionally stable and focused.
Writing
fromSilicon Canals
2 days agoI'm 66 and the most important relationship of my adult life has been with solitude - not as a consolation for the company I didn't have, but as the place where I have always been most honest, most creative, and most recognizably myself, and I spent too many years being embarrassed about that before I understood it was simply how I was built - Silicon Canals
Solitude allows for self-discovery and personal reflection, free from societal expectations and external pressures.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
1 week agoThere's a version of solitude that belongs to people who spent decades being everything to everyone - and the peace they find in retirement isn't loneliness, it's recovery. Every link must be real and accurate - Silicon Canals
Retirement solitude can be a recovery of self rather than loneliness, offering peace and clarity for many.
Careers
fromSilicon Canals
9 hours agoI was always the reliable one - the one who showed up, remembered, rearranged, and absorbed - and it took me until 58 to wonder whether anyone would have come looking if I'd stopped - Silicon Canals
Being the reliable one can lead to personal neglect and invisibility in relationships.
#mental-health
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks agoThe loneliest people in most social circles aren't the ones nobody likes - they're the kind, helpful people everyone appreciates but nobody thinks to check on because they seem so self-sufficient and together - Silicon Canals
People who appear strong and reliable often struggle silently, leading others to overlook their need for support.
#friendship
fromSilicon Canals
16 hours agoMindfulness
I have no close friends and I do not say that as a confession or a complaint - I say it as the most accurate thing I know about my life right now, and I am trying to hold it with honesty rather than explanation, and some days the honesty is enough and some days it is the loneliest sentence I know how to say - Silicon Canals
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoMental health
There was a moment in my late twenties when I realized every close friendship I'd lost wasn't a relationship that ended. It was a version of myself that could only exist around those specific people, and the grief was never about them leaving. It was about that version of me having nowhere left to live. - Silicon Canals
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
4 days agoHow to Cultivate Adult Friendships
Negative beliefs about rejection hinder relationship building, while consistent interactions and practicing social skills foster connections and reduce anxiety.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoPsychology says the most isolating part of retirement isn't being alone - it's realizing that most of your relationships were held together by proximity, routine, and utility, not genuine curiosity about who you are - Silicon Canals
Most relationships are maintained by physical proximity rather than genuine connection, a truth that becomes evident in retirement.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
16 hours agoI have no close friends and I do not say that as a confession or a complaint - I say it as the most accurate thing I know about my life right now, and I am trying to hold it with honesty rather than explanation, and some days the honesty is enough and some days it is the loneliest sentence I know how to say - Silicon Canals
Not having close friends can lead to freedom and clarity rather than feelings of failure.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoThere was a moment in my late twenties when I realized every close friendship I'd lost wasn't a relationship that ended. It was a version of myself that could only exist around those specific people, and the grief was never about them leaving. It was about that version of me having nowhere left to live. - Silicon Canals
Friendship dissolution often signifies the loss of a version of oneself rather than just the loss of a relationship.
Online Community Development
fromLos Angeles Times
2 weeks agoL.A. Times Concierge: 'It's hard to make friends as an adult in L.A. What are some groups I can join?'
Building adult friendships can be challenging, but social clubs and community spaces in L.A. offer opportunities for connection and shared interests.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoPsychology says the most isolating part of retirement isn't being alone - it's realizing that most of your relationships were held together by proximity, routine, and utility, not genuine curiosity about who you are - Silicon Canals
Most relationships are maintained by physical proximity rather than genuine connection, a truth that becomes evident in retirement.
London politics
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 days agoYoung people want to come together': experts respond to mass teen meet-ups in Clapham
Teenagers organized chaotic gatherings in London via social media, leading to disorder and arrests, prompting political outrage and calls for action against youth behavior.
Retirement
fromSilicon Canals
5 days agoI'm 66 and I spent forty years trying to stay positive through everything - and what I actually created was a life where nobody knew me well enough to notice when I was drowning - Silicon Canals
Staying positive can lead to hidden struggles and emotional isolation, as individuals often mask their true feelings to appear strong.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoPsychology says the most emotionally strong people aren't the ones who never fall apart - they're the ones who fall apart privately, reassemble without fanfare, and never use their recovery as a reason for anyone else to feel guilty - Silicon Canals
Emotional strength involves acknowledging feelings and recovering privately, not denying vulnerability or pretending to be unbreakable.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoNot everyone who avoids asking for help is proud. Some of them asked once, received it with a lecture attached, and learned that the cost of support was a small erosion of standing they could never quite earn back. - Silicon Canals
Asking for help can lead to unintended consequences that affect relationships and self-perception.
fromYoga Journal
2 weeks agoWTF Is a Wellness Festival? An Antidote to Loneliness, Apparently.
A true wellness gathering is something far more ancient and far more urgent: it's any intentional space where humans are invited to arrive whole, body, mind, spirit, and leave more alive than when they walked in. That's it. That's the whole definition.
Yoga
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 days agoI'm 37 and the friendships in my life that have lasted are the ones where we stopped pretending - stopped curating what we showed each other, stopped performing the version of our lives that made sense on paper - and what replaced the pretending is the best thing I have built in the last decade - Silicon Canals
Authentic friendships emerge when individuals drop their facades and share their true struggles with each other.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoI retired at 64 with a generous pension and a calendar full of plans - and by month three I was staring at my phone realizing I had nobody to call just to talk, not because I needed something - Silicon Canals
Retirement can lead to unexpected loneliness and a realization of the lack of genuine friendships built outside of work.
#loneliness
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoPsychology says the loneliest people in life aren't the ones nobody likes - they're the kind, helpful people everyone appreciates but nobody thinks to check on because they seem so self-sufficient - Silicon Canals
Highly capable, helpful individuals often feel lonely because their strength creates an illusion that they do not need support.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 days agoPsychology says the loneliness that arrives after 65 isn't an inevitable feature of aging - it's the accumulated result of every friendship that was allowed to thin, every phone call that was delayed, every invitation that wasn't extended, compounded quietly over decades until the social life that once maintained itself without effort requires more effort than it has ever required and more energy than is currently available - Silicon Canals
Loneliness often stems from a series of small decisions that weaken social connections over time.
Mental health
fromTiny Buddha
5 days agoIf You Feel Lonely Around People, Here's Why - Tiny Buddha
Loneliness in a connected age stems from feeling unseen in social situations, not from being alone.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoThere's a specific kind of loneliness that hits hardest at 35. Not the loneliness of being alone on a Friday night, but of realizing you could disappear for a week and the only people who'd notice are the ones who need something from you. - Silicon Canals
Loneliness can peak in mid-thirties, often unnoticed despite a busy life.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoPsychology says the loneliest people in life aren't the ones nobody likes - they're the kind, helpful people everyone appreciates but nobody thinks to check on because they seem so self-sufficient - Silicon Canals
Highly capable, helpful individuals often feel lonely because their strength creates an illusion that they do not need support.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 days agoPsychology says the loneliness that arrives after 65 isn't an inevitable feature of aging - it's the accumulated result of every friendship that was allowed to thin, every phone call that was delayed, every invitation that wasn't extended, compounded quietly over decades until the social life that once maintained itself without effort requires more effort than it has ever required and more energy than is currently available - Silicon Canals
Loneliness often stems from a series of small decisions that weaken social connections over time.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoPsychology says the people who actually escape loneliness don't do it by finding more people - they do it by finally dropping the version of themselves that made real connection impossible in the first place - Silicon Canals
Loneliness stems from a lack of genuine connection, not merely from being alone or having many acquaintances.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoThere's a specific kind of loneliness that hits hardest at 35. Not the loneliness of being alone on a Friday night, but of realizing you could disappear for a week and the only people who'd notice are the ones who need something from you. - Silicon Canals
Loneliness can peak in mid-thirties, often unnoticed despite a busy life.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoPsychology says the most important life lesson isn't learning to make better decisions - it's learning to live peacefully with the ones you can't undo - Silicon Canals
Irreversible choices shape our lives and learning to coexist with them is crucial for mental well-being.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoI'm 66 and I finally learned the hardest lesson isn't that people will disappoint you - it's that you'll disappoint yourself by pretending you don't need what you need until you forget what that even was - Silicon Canals
Neglecting emotional needs leads to a profound sense of loss and disconnection from oneself and others.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoPsychology says if you want your 70s to be the best years of your life you have to stop doing something most people don't quit until it's too late - and the quitting isn't dramatic, it's just the daily decision to stop measuring yourself by a standard that was always someone else's and never actually yours - Silicon Canals
Measuring worth by external standards leads to dissatisfaction; true value comes from personal fulfillment, not societal expectations.
Cocktails
fromFast Company
1 month agoIn recovery? Here's how to handle social drinking situations in the workplace
Professionals in recovery from alcohol addiction can maintain sobriety in workplace drinking cultures by setting boundaries, avoiding overexplanation, and recognizing that colleagues care less about abstinence than feared.
fromPsychology Today
6 days agoPartnership on the Spiritual Path
Devon Hase states, 'People are trying desperately to fix, optimize, or escape their way out of relationship difficulty - and suffering more for the effort. Social media has made this worse! We're surrounded by images of perfect partnerships while quietly drowning in our own ordinary struggles.' This highlights the pressure couples feel in the age of social media.
Mindfulness
#kindness
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoI'm 37 and I realized I wasn't actually a good person the day my wife said "you're kind to strangers and cruel to the people closest to you" - and the worst part wasn't the accusation, it was that I couldn't argue because I'd been using up all my patience on people who didn't matter and coming home empty - Silicon Canals
Kindness should be abundant at home, not rationed for public interactions, to foster authentic connections with loved ones.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
6 days agoI'm 37 and I've already learned the hard way that the older you get, the less drama you can tolerate, the more solitude makes sense, and the clearer your standards become while outgrowing the life I once thought I wanted - Silicon Canals
Aging brings a shift in priorities, leading to a decreased tolerance for drama and a greater appreciation for peace and authenticity.
Food & drink
fromBusiness Insider
2 months agoI run alcohol-free nightlife events in NYC. Most of my guests aren't sober - they just don't want to drink.
Bright Nights Social hosts alcohol-free nightlife pop-ups in NYC that attract mostly non-sober young adults seeking social experiences without alcohol as the focus.
fromwww.mercurynews.com
2 months agoFor Gen Z, Dry January has become something much bigger
Long-term Gallup research compiled in 2023 showed the share of adults younger than 35 who said they drink alcohol at all had steadily declined, from 72% in 2001-2003 to 62% in 2021-2023. A Gallup survey conducted in July 2025 found that figure dropped further to 50% and that just 54% of Americans of legal drinking age reported consuming alcohol at all, the lowest level Gallup has recorded in 90 years.
Public health
fromHuffPost
2 months agoThis Trend Is Exploding Among Millennials And Gen Z - And Honestly, It's Worth Celebrating
With fewer folks relying on alcohol as a social lubricant, a healthier way to interact with others has gained traction. Enter "daylife," a term coined by the fitness social app Sweatpals. "Daylife" refers to daytime social outings involving alcohol-free fitness as a way to meet new people with similar interests. "It's just the concept of using wellness, using movement as a way to meet, as a way to get entertainment and to socialize, versus relying on alcohol,' Sweatpals co-founder Salar Shahini told HuffPost.
Wellness
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/01/06/936/n/49351082/eca0b2e7695d7ea016f525.80424515_.jpg)
Mental health
fromSlate Magazine
1 month agoI Quit Drinking Years Ago, All Thanks to One Approach. I'm Afraid of What People Will Think.
AA can produce profound positive change while sharing superficial features with cults; emphasize voluntary, therapeutic, and noncoercive aspects when explaining benefits.
fromApartment Therapy
2 months agoI Tried "Dry Tripping," and It Wasn't Perfect (but It Was Worth It)
Hi, I'm Cullen, and I'm an alcoholic. At least that's what I recited in front of hundreds of strangers once a week while attending virtual Alcoholics Anonymous meetings last year. I mumbled the words, but often didn't believe them or give their depth of meaning to my life. But when I turned the legal drinking age, even though I swapped out plastic bottles for premium glass ones, that frenzied "teenage" spirit didn't go away.
Mental health
fromSocial Media Explorer
1 month agoDo Mental Health Retreats Allow Social Media Access? - Social Media Explorer
The question of whether mental health retreats allow social media access does not have a universal answer. Different facilities approach digital connectivity in varying ways, reflecting their treatment philosophies and therapeutic goals. Most mental health retreats limit or completely restrict social media use during the initial phases of treatment, though specific policies can range from total digital detox to supervised access at designated times.
Mental health
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
2 months agoYou know you're officially middle-aged when these 7 weekend plans sound perfect instead of boring - Silicon Canals
People in their thirties and forties are redefining weekends toward restful, productive mornings—farmers' markets, meal prep, and morning coffee—over late-night socializing.
[ Load more ]