Loneliness is a common issue for students nowadays as they don't have enough time for socializing due to their heavy focus on studies.Loneliness often occurs when someone moves to a new location, faces difficulties in communicating, or experiences mental health challenges. It is linked to feeling socially isolated, having limited social abilities, being introverted, and experiencing depression.I used to be lonely when I first moved to Melbourne and I have overcome this.

How does loneliness occur and what can I do to overcome it?

When I moved to Melbourne, It was an old but new place for me because I had to deal with my life in many areas and also focus on studying rather than having a short stay here. Thus, many issues occured and challenges were inevitable. I met new people, made new friends and manage my daily routine. Initially, everything was good maybe because I was a newbie there. In addition, I felt more confident and had more interests in studying, which was a really good sign for a new international student. My personal experience was exactly the same as a party, which has to come to an end. I started to strugle with my relationships and feel depressed due to some difficulties in studying. As a result, I fell behind my peers, lose interests in studying and be isolated by my friends for unknown reasons.

Then I realized that my school wasn’t a great place to develop myself because I was truly a lonely person that had no friends. School got more challenging so I felt depressed and started feeling that I wasn’t be welcome when I entered my friends’ conservation. Even though I played soccer weekly and had friends, I still felt hollow and stuck in a repetitive cycle. After spending too much money on food and entertainment, I ran out of money and my friends still hadn’t paid me the amount that they borrowed, which made the situation worse. Thus, I changed myself, think about my life and I had become an overthinker.

I spent a lot of time on social media during these days. Moreover, I played games more and usually be exhausted during school. My daily routine was simple. I hardly ever had breakfast so I combined breakfast and lunch as a meal during break time. After school, I went to the city centre and sometimes parks for a walk then back home and sleep. I slept until dinner and spent most of my time to complete my homework and played games until 2-3am. On weekends, I ensured to finish my maths homework, even though I had just come home after hanging out. I came home late during these days and I sometimes studied at 2 or even 3am. As a result, I didn’t feel better and my health went down rapidly. Moreover, my results even went down.

It seemed to be serious, here is what I did to improve the situation:

I often feel persistently alone (Chronic loneliness), I only did certain things temporarily and only concentrated on those after that time. I was busy and overworried with my studying so the first thing I did was manage my timetable. I allowed myself to relax more and didn’t push myself too hard in completing my specialist mathematics homework, which was challenging and time-consuming. Beside, I spent more tim in relaxing and finding new connections. Luckily, some of my friends had some troubles so we had a good time in sharing these things. Time flew by and it was finally the holidays. I went back home and spent time with my family, which helped me feel less depressed and improved my mood. Even though I didn't have a great relationship with my family, I still managed to hang out with my old friends. It was nice to share my experiences and talk about different parts of life, which temporarily made me feel better and distracted me from feeling lonely.

Finding people to express our feelings is hard sometimes but at least, we still have somebody to share, which is important. After my holiday, I backed to Melbourne and moved to a new environment. Here, I had time to explore and develop myself, which I think is very useful. For me, finding strongest & weakness points and respect our body will have us stay in shape, which is important for a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, healthy lifestyle urge us to work more effective and make us feel happier.

Here are some ways I've been doing and I believe they will be very useful:

• Find a hobby: Loneliness usually put us in an ‘empty’ situation, when we don’t know what to do. Thus, searching for people that shares the same interests as you would open a new world, where you can express your ideas and making new friends. Revise: If you have a hobby, consider joining social media groups or connecting with friends who share similar interests.

• Meditation: This may surprise you but from my perspective, meditation is really helpful especially for over-thinkers. Meditation can heal your feelings, empty your mind for a short period of time to discover your inner self. From that, you may find what do you want and what do you need so you would focus on these things to overcome it. When we focus on something, I believe it will reduce loneliness and make you feel better. Therefore, focus on what you want and it will transform you into a better version.

• Attend a social club / activities: Making new friends can be enjoyable and helpful in building connections to share different aspects of life.

• Exercise regularly: Try to spend at least 30mins in the gym or do basic exercises. Not only help you to relax, it also remove you from the thinking of being lonely. In addition, we will have a better lifestyle. If you have a sport, just ensure to do it regularly.

• Traveling/ explore new places: Discover new places creates sense of thrill and make you feel excited. I usually find some good place nearby to give them a try. Usually, I feel excited and thrill when I am going to a new place. Not only creating positive thinking and emotions, It also make you feel more relaxed. Thus, I think being closer and closer to the nature provide a better way to become positive.

  
  I’m not an expert in this but I can feel that I’m changing and improving my life. At the moment, I sometimes feel lonely and depressed but it is part of our life, isn’t it. Sometimes, lonely is good because it gives you some spaces to reflect on your life. Moreover, loneliness sometimes make us stronger and braver, which plays a significant role in our life and key to success.

  I hope my tips would be useful and thank you for reading it!