Season 4, Episode 1: The loneliness epidemic and how to find real connections
Loneliness is more common than we think, but it doesn’t always look the way we expect. You can be surrounded by people, busy at work, active on social media – and still feel deeply alone.
In this episode of Living Fully, we talk with counsellor Rasha Taha from Calgary Counselling Centre and Counselling Alberta about loneliness in a real, relatable way. They explore what loneliness is, why it shows up at different points in our lives, and how we can begin to feel more connected again.
Drawing on both clinical experience and everyday examples, they talk about the difference between being alone and feeling lonely and how social media can create a “fake” sense of connection. They also share practical, low-pressure ideas for starting where you are – with the people, places, and routines already in your life.
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Katherine Hurtig
Welcome to Living Fully. Each episode is a chance to talk about mental health in a way that's simple, honest, and helpful. We'll share stories, tips, and tools to help you feel supported and feel your best. I'm your host, Katherine Hurtig.
Hello and Happy New Year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I'm excited to be back for season four of Living Fully. We've got a lot of great episodes coming your way. Today we're talking about loneliness and that can be a complicated feeling. You can be busy, surrounded by people and still feel disconnected and it's something so many of us go through. I'm talking with counsellor Rasha Taha from Calgary Counselling Centre in Counselling Alberta and we get into why loneliness shows up the way it does how big life shifts can shake your sense of connection, and approachable ways to reconnect with yourself and others, including how counselling can offer a space to be heard without pressure or judgment.
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Rasha, welcome back. You're becoming quite the living fully regular.
Rasha Taha
I love it. It's so great to be back.
Katherine Hurtig
And today we're talking about loneliness. It's a topic that might be on people's minds lately as we kind of come out of the holiday season. It's definitely something that's been on my mind lately, actually. I've been feeling a little more lonely and thinking about how to kind of fix that. So when we talk about loneliness, what does that mean?
Rasha Taha
I think loneliness is lack of connection.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
So the sense of feeling disconnected. But I think that has layers to it as well, because it's not just feeling disconnected as in not being around people. But I think it goes deeper in that possibly feeling a lack of connection in terms of being seen from other people, maybe being understood or not understood. And so I see it as it's not just, oh, I'm not around people because there's a difference between loneliness and being alone, which I'm sure we'll get to. but loneliness is not being connected to other people in ways that feel meaningful and fulfilling and what that's going to look like for each person is going to differ.
Katherine Hurtig
For sure.
Rasha Taha
Because people are going to have different standards people are going to have different understandings of what that means and so my loneliness is going to look different than your loneliness.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay yeah that'll be good to kind of get into to explain for people. so I think we're hearing about loneliness more and more like it's almost an epidemic. Why do you think it's become so prevalent even when we're more quote unquote connected than ever? Like there's so many more different ways to interact with people, but we're still lonely.
Rasha Taha
The first thing that comes to mind for me there is there are so many ways to connect with people in terms of like, I'm thinking of social media. I'm thinking of internet, right? I'm thinking of all the cyber ways that we are able to connect with people. But does that actually help us feel connected on like an intrinsic level? I think it can be very surface level. But also the idea comes up of having so many different avenues that we can connect.
Katherine Hurtig
But it's not actually connection, is it?
Rasha Taha
Yeah, that's the thing. It's almost like a facade of connection. Because are you actually connecting with people when you're interacting with their content or when you're interacting with them? There's a difference. Let's say when it comes to social media, I think we've heard a lot about people using social media in order to connect, but it's a very passive way to connect.
Katherine Hurtig
Very, yeah.
Rasha Taha
They're the ones that are watching, like people are watching, but not necessarily interacting. So it's a very passive way to quote unquote feel connected, but we're actually disconnecting in the process because we're almost like a passenger in other people's lives.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. We recently lost our dog and me and my husband, you know, we posted about it on social media. It was interesting to see how some people approach that. A lot of really close friends. I mean, they would obviously message us first and they, you know, and then if they saw that post come up, they'd write a comment. But some people, they would only kind of click that heart button or send, you know, a little heart emoji or something like that. And I think that could be a whole other conversation, like people, you know, sometimes don't know how to handle someone else's emotions in that situation. But it felt very, like you said, very passive. The only effort that had to be made was a, you know, a click.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. Like I see this and I feel with you, but the only interaction we're getting is a button.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And I think, again, it's layered because the intention is connection, but it doesn't quite land.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Yeah. And I think we're kind of, laziness isn't the right word, but it's just, it's become too easy for us to be passive and not try as much. So yeah, like these technologies, social media and all that, do they really play into that feeling of loneliness? Do they help us feel more connected or do they really make things worse?
Rasha Taha
I think it really is a matter of how people are utilizing these tools, I suppose, for lack of better word. Because if you're using these tools in order to reach out to folks, you're actually interacting with people, you're making plans, you're connecting with them on shared interests or on vulnerabilities or what have you, then it's a tool that you're using in a good way in order to bring yourself closer with other people. But if you're using it as a spectator, then I think they can amplify feelings of loneliness because now we're looking at people's lives from an outsider lens.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And I think the inevitable comparisons are going to come up. Like I can't even tell you how many clients I work with who just compare at a baseline from what they see on social media. And we really have to scale it back and go, it's very curated. A lot of people are getting paid for this. It's their job. We can't necessarily take it at face value and then plop it back on, oh, but what am I doing with my life? Look at what they're doing with their life. So I think it can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and that level of comparison.
Katherine Hurtig
And just, yeah, give us a skewed perception of what the people around us are actually doing, actually feeling kind of thing.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
Do you think that there are certain life stages or transitions where loneliness might show up more? Off the top of my head, I'm thinking maybe becoming a new mom. You might be feeling extra lonely there or if your kids are leaving the house, heading into retirement, that kind of thing.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. I think any kind of big life transition has potential to bring up feelings of loneliness. Because if we, again, break it down as loneliness is a lack of connection or loneliness is disconnection from other people, It takes effort to stay in contact. It takes effort to connect with other folks. So during life transitions, when we're experiencing challenges, when we're experiencing big changes, even if those changes are beautiful, like a new mom, it still presents itself with something new that we're having to deal with and having to integrate into our lives, which means that we need to actively put effort into reaching out to people. The way that we used to live our lives doesn't apply anymore. There's a new way. And so what does it mean to connect with people again in a new way? Because a new mom, her time is very different than what it was before she became a mom. So it's almost a different way of connecting with people. She has different capacity. She has different times. She has different everything, energy levels, all of it. So that connection is going to look different. And frankly, sometimes people don't have the capacity left over during these life transitions. Even if you think of people moving, right, whether it's in the same city or it's across the country or what have you, all the energy is going towards maintaining what's going on and being able to move through this life transition that connecting with other folks isn't always as big of a priority. People just oftentimes feel it afterwards, after the storm passes, when everything starts settling in, I think that that's when the loneliness can start coming in. And that could be a trigger for folks to go, oh, how do reconnect? How do I put myself back out there? How do I bring people back into my life?
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Bring out that effort again. And you mentioned this. So what is the difference between being alone and feeling lonely?
Rasha Taha
I think they can definitely cross over in that when we're experiencing loneliness, it could be a symptom of being alone.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
But I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of this expression or this idea of you can still feel lonely in a room full of people.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Right. So what does that tell us? That tells us that human connection is what helps us move away from loneliness. So being alone is the physical act of being alone is how I understand it. So you could, you're not alone in a room full of people, but you can still have a feeling of loneliness.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And I think that's kind of the big distinction there. Whereas with being alone, a lot of people can be content being alone.
Katherine Hurtig
I love my alone time.
Rasha Taha
Exactly, right? Like it's needed for a lot of us, but it's different than the deep feeling of loneliness. It's almost like a, like an empty space.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Just something's missing.
Rasha Taha
Yes. Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
And how can loneliness affect our mental health or physical health?
Rasha Taha
I think it can impact both in a pretty big way. Right. I think feeling lonely can impact self-esteem, can impact sense of self-worth, which can then impact how we feel about ourselves, what we do with our time, how we move through our days. It can really seep into everything.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And I think it can maybe also exacerbate pre-existing mental health. Let's say you're already dealing with anxiety or depression. Feeling of loneliness is probably going to escalate.
Katherine Hurtig
That makes sense because, you know, in my conversations with you guys, whether it's anxiety, depression, whatever, connection and yeah, social connection is always a huge part of relieving those things. And what happens to our sense of self when we go through maybe long periods of isolation, disconnection, that kind of thing?
Rasha Taha
That's a really good question. And it makes me think back to COVID days.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
That are not that far away, but still are.
Katherine Hurtig
I know.
Rasha Taha
It feels like both forever and not that long ago.
Katherine Hurtig
COVID, yeah, definitely changed the perception of time for sure.
Rasha Taha
Yes.
Katherine Hurtig
It felt like yesterday.
Rasha Taha
But I think a lot of people who lived alone, like at the time I lived alone at the start of the pandemic. And so it was this idea of like, how do we now grapple with being alone for an extended period of time? And how does that seep into feeling lonely because we're not in community? We're not able to be physically close to the people in our lives. And so I think we all probably, for the most part, had a bit of a taste of what that felt like for a prolonged period of time. But I think it can really impact our sense of self and it can impact how we interact with the world. If we are secluded and we are kind of, I almost imagine it as like shrinking in on ourselves. If we're isolated for a long period of time or grappling with that feeling of loneliness for a long period of time, I think it inevitably is going to tip away at our sense of self and our sense of self-worth.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. I think, I mean, maybe you need a particular amount of self-awareness, but like I find when I get those feelings of loneliness, it's like, it's almost a craving, you know, a craving to have a real vulnerable conversation.
Rasha Taha
Yep.
Katherine Hurtig
And then when those do happen, you almost feel nourished.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. No, I think that's the way I imagined that is like this feeling of like emptiness and then being filled up by having those meaningful conversations.
Katherine Hurtig
And Rasha, how might loneliness show up in someone's day to day, whether it's, you know, maybe you don't even realize that you are lonely or signs that you might see in someone else. Does that make sense?
Rasha Taha
Yeah. And I guess this is going to be specific to each person and how, and exactly like you said earlier, in terms of their level of self-awareness. But I think if folks, let's say, are presenting as being guarded, right, if they're not necessarily leaning into interactions or if they skirt away from tough conversations. So I'm thinking of my work and I'm thinking of people who have a hard time letting folks in, who have a hard time accessing their vulnerable sides. I think folks who struggle with being vulnerable, with connecting in a meaningful way on a deep level with other people, their signs are going to look different than someone who is super open to connecting and isn't getting that connection. So I'm looking at avoidance, right? But I'm also looking at hurt and what that hurt can look like for folks who are possibly craving that kind of connection, but they're not getting it. So I feel like it's, maybe if we like bench this in an example, it might, it might, we might be able to kind of flesh it out a bit more, but yeah, signs of loneliness are going to be so, so unique to each person. Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
Hard to pinpoint that. And in your work with clients, is this something people are talking about?
Rasha Taha
Oh, yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
All the time. I would say consistently it shows up quite often. It shows up when folks, let's say, haven't been in romantic relationships for an extended period of time and they express this feeling of loneliness. And while, yes, a lot of folks are craving romantic connection, I try to work with folks on kind of debunking that that's the only place that we get to have real connection. What it's like to send folks out into community, what it's like to get folks to prioritize their friendships and look at their friendships in a different way and seek connection through their friendships rather than only looking at getting connection, receiving connection from romantic relationships. So that's usually the shift that I see the most when folks show up wanting to talk about, you know, feeling lonely, wanting to have romantic relationships, not to discredit that. But in the meantime, because we can't just flip a coin and there's a partner in front of us. That would be nice, though. In the meantime, how can we get to that connection that we're craving from the existing connections that we have in our lives, whether it's through friends, whether it's making new friends, whether it's family, whether it's community supports, whether it's any of those avenues that we already have in place. And if we don't have those, okay, what is it like to start those up?
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. And can we talk about that? Like, like the making new friends and building a community? Like I've heard this so much, like the idea that it's difficult to make friends as an adult.
Rasha Taha
Yes.
Katherine Hurtig
So yeah, what do you, how do you encourage clients to, yeah, to go out and do that? And what does that look like?
Rasha Taha
The place I usually like to start is by asking folks, what is it that they're looking for? Like, what do you want? If you were to treat looking for friends in the same way that you treat dating, like for seeking a romantic relationship, how can you look at it in the same way in terms of what is it that you're wanting out of friends? Are you wanting people who you get to go and do shared activities with? Are you looking for people to just have kind of casual interactions with? What is it that you're really looking for? Are you just looking for something that's like really meaningful and really deep? And you want this person to be able to just walk into your house whenever it is that they want. And you get to kind of interact in that way. Like, what is it that you're looking for? And then once we can identify that, then we go, okay, how do we get there? Because friendships, like relationships, take time to build.
Katherine Hurtig
Yes, that resonates so hard right now. Like I'm feeling like I have a bit of a small circle at the moment. And I mean, nothing wrong with that. I adore the friends I do have, but I've been wanting to kind of, you know, go out of my comfort zone, meet new people. And there is this desire to like have a new friend instantly.
Rasha Taha
Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
Like, you know, I'd be at the gym and talk to someone or, you know, I was at a cooking class and struck up a conversation. And it really isn't like when we were kids where it was just, you found someone on the park. Do you want to be friends? Sure. And you're done.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. We have schedules to contend with.
Katherine Hurtig
I know.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. That resonates with me really, really deeply and with a lot of the clients who I work with. This idea of, oh, romantic relationships are what take time. Friendships should just be easy.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, they should.
Rasha Taha
People are people are people, right? And compatibility is still there when it comes to romantic relationships and when it comes to friends. Because you could be incompatible to be friends with someone in the same way that you're incompatible to date someone.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, that's very true.
Rasha Taha
They look differently. They're different forms of relationships.
Katherine Hurtig
My husband and I were recently on a vacation and we pushed ourselves to be a little more social. And on one of the first days, we met this couple that kind of lives, I mean, at least in the same province as us.
Rasha Taha
Okay.
Katherine Hurtig
And yeah, we met them. We, you know, had good conversation. We ran into them at one of the bars at the resort that we were at. So we had a drink together. But then I was talking to my husband later. I'm like, I didn't want to come on too strong and ask if they wanted to have dinner, you know. It did remind me of dating.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. Because it's very similar. It's like, do you want what I want? Is there a compatibility here in terms of what kind of friendship we may want? Or is this just casual passing? We'll kind of see each other when we see each other kind of interaction. Because there's a lot of intention that also needs to go into friendships, especially in adulthood. Whereas exactly like you're identifying when we're younger, our parents, families are the ones kind of coordinating things for us. So it's a lot easier. But now we have lives.
Katherine Hurtig
We're in places. We're just naturally around a lot more people, you know, like elementary school. You're in this building every day with hundreds of other kids. It's just not the same. So how do we make friends, Rasha?
Rasha Taha
Well, I would love to give you a step-by-step process. But to mention, I will get back to this question, but when you mentioned school, the thing that came up for me was the transition question that you had asked earlier. And I think I see and have experienced when folks, let's say if they go to high school and then they go into the workforce or they go from high school to university or college and then they graduate and they go into the workforce. The school workforce transition is massive because if you don't have if those friends don't come with you if those friends leave they go somewhere else they go to a different province whatever it is. They go back home then that transition can lead to a lot of loneliness because we're going from a space exactly like you're saying where we're around so many people and there's so many opportunities to make friends to oh now the only people I can be friends with are my co-workers.
Katherine Hurtig
Right.
Rasha Taha
And there's boundaries that need to happen there. So that, that's what came up for me when you were talking about school because that is so, so real in that transition. I've experienced it and I have a lot of clients who've experienced it. How do we make friends? What a great question. Can someone please write a book on this? I'm sure there's a million. When it comes to adulthood, I really do think that intention and compatibility are really the things that are resonating with me the most right now. What is it like to put yourself out there wanting to make friends? What do you want from friends? What is it that you're asking? Do you have the same expectations of what it means to be friends? So approaching it in the same way that we would approach dating. There's a lot of quote unquote dating apps that are for friends, right? So kind of utilizing the same modality of putting yourself out there on friend apps and meeting up with people there or having an interest of yours and then finding places in the community that people congregate in order to do said interest. That's another way. That's probably, I would argue, one of the easier ways to make friends. So one of the things that I love about being a climber is I could go anywhere in the world, for the most part, and find a climbing gym or go out and be-
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, you know that there'll be other people there who have kind of the same passion.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. And that's been one of the main ways that I've made friends as I've moved throughout my life, I would go to the climbing gym and then make friends there. I would join the local climbing group, whatever it would be. So that's kind of been one of my avenues. And so the two main things are I have climbing and I have my horse. And so that's another thing, right? People who have horses share that commonality.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. They'd understand you a bit more.
Rasha Taha
Exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
It's definitely going to be something I'm going to challenge myself to do in this new year. Like I'm, I'm really into running and I am training for a marathon.
Rasha Taha
That's awesome.
Katherine Hurtig
Thank you. I know that there are lots of run clubs in Calgary, but some of them are just, they're so big and intimidating.
Rasha Taha
But in the big and intimidating, you can fork off and meet people and run in smaller groups.
Katherine Hurtig
Yes. That’s true.
Rasha Taha
So I think the intimidation factor is really big because I think as adults, going back to your previous point of like as kids, it's a lot easier to just, you'll be my friend. Whereas as adults, I wonder if there's almost an insecurity sometimes.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Like, do you want to be my friend? Because I want to be your friend. So there's still that sense of rejection.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, totally.
Rasha Taha
We have to contend with if let's say you really, and I don't know if this is something that you can relate to, but I've met people in my life where I really want to hang out with them. but they just don't have any space.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Or they have so many different friend groups that they're a part of, or they have families or they have whatever. And it's just like, oh, now I'm contending with rejection. And I'm not, it's not in a dating context, but it's still…
Katherine Hurtig
It's still a rejection for sure.
Rasha Taha
It still feels like I can't have what it is that I want because we're incompatible in this way. And that sucks.
Katherine Hurtig
But I assume that, you know, it's one of those things where we've got to make ourselves a little uncomfortable.
Rasha Taha
Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
We have to put ourselves out there because, you know, I'm thinking my anxiety brain. Like you can think of all the worst case scenarios, like they'll reject me or this will be awful or whatever. But you don't know unless you try.
Rasha Taha
No, exactly. And when it comes to the worst case scenarios of putting ourselves out there, possibly contending with rejection, let's try to balance it out with nothing might happen. And we may go in like in a neutral way. We may go in wanting to make friends and we are not rejected and we're not accepted. We're just, we realize, oh, maybe this just isn't what we want.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And we carry forward. Right? And so I think, yeah, I think making friends is, and putting ourselves out there and kind of contending with anxiety or contending with depression or any kind of mental health that comes up, a mental health condition that comes up. It's the same thing in terms of pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Because coming back to change, right? We talk about change all the time here, but it fits here. And when people feel lonely, when they feel a sense of loneliness, in order to change that, they're going to have to do something about it. Something's going to have to shift because people aren't just going to walk in through their door and alleviate that sense of loneliness. So when I'm working with folks who are contending with this feeling, we try to understand this feeling. We unpack this feeling and then we decide what do we want to do about it? Because if there's no do, then we're just kind of continuing to live in the feeling.
Katherine Hurtig
For sure.
Rasha Taha
And it's going to hang around because now it keeps perpetuating itself.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
So what do we actually do about it? And it doesn't have to be physically do. It could be going online and joining a group that meets up virtually once a week, right? Like I want to make it, I want to make sure that it's accessible for folks who, let's say, have physical limitations or whose schedules are just completely wonky. What is it like to still add that intentionality with meeting people who want the same thing as you? So intentionality and compatibility here and then being able to match those up.
Katherine Hurtig
So Rasha, for somebody who's feeling lonely right now, what's the first step that you'd suggest towards feeling more connected?
Rasha Taha
I would want to start with what people already have in place and who people already have in place. So if you are feeling lonely and you are a student, let's say, you already go to class, you always sit in the same spot. What is it like for you to turn towards the person next to you and talk about the class? What is it like to ask them to do schoolwork together, right? Like I want people to start with things that already exist in their lives because we don't want to make it unrealistic. I don't want to say go out and do this new thing entirely. It's like, okay, let's look at what's existing right now and see if we can mobilize on what you already have in your life right now. Even if it's not entirely what it is that you're looking for. If you have maybe more superficial friends, can they help get us a little bit out of that zone in order to then have enough momentum to go out and do new things?
Katherine Hurtig
And like you were talking about it, it really is. It's taking action.
Rasha Taha
Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
And it's probably like easy to start small, right?
Rasha Taha
Yes.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Like you said, you know, turning to a classmate, maybe having lunch with someone at work that you normally don't.
Rasha Taha
Exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
I think that might be a little uncomfortable at first, but it's an easy start than just trying to meet a whole new group of friends.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. Exactly. So I really like breaking things down into what's the most accessible right now, not what's going to be accessible when you get to where you want to be.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Because then that goal is way too insurmountable. It's overwhelming. And then we're likely to not even do it.
Katherine Hurtig
Right. Yeah, you got to have like these small achievements to kind of build up, right? Like you have to see for yourself like, okay, that wasn't too bad. This worked. I'll try that again. I'll try something a little different, something a little more challenging.
Katherine Hurtig
And even as you're mentioning that, I'm thinking of people who, let's say, are experiencing or do experience anxiety when they're talking to people. What are some small ways, small, low stakes ways of working through that? First thing that came to mind is when you go to the store, you go to the corner store, you go to the grocery store, you go order yourself a coffee. What is it like to go beyond the, hi, can I have, thank you. I was like, hi, how's your day going?
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Like ask a genuine question.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, like in small, small, small ways. And the stakes are low because if the person looks at you like you have six heads, then okay, onwards we go. On to the next thing, right? It's not going to have a massive, massive impact in terms of how that's going to affect us. But it's still a way for us to put ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And be able to push it in a small enough way that we can gain some success from it. Even if they reject you or even if they look at you weird, it's like you still said more. You still did more.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
That's something that we need to…
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. And then we can take that and build on that rather than keeping things the same.
Katherine Hurtig
Mm-hmm. And Rasha, how can counselling, how can working with someone like you help someone who's struggling with loneliness?
Rasha Taha
I think it's a really fantastic place to start because it can model what vulnerability can look like. Like it's a place…
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
The counselling room can be a space for you, for people to be able to be in a safe, nonjudgmental space and be able to play around with what vulnerability feels like for them.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Like you said, a safe, low stakes place.
Rasha Taha
Exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. So I think it can be massively helpful to practice what it's like to seek out meaningful connection, to be vulnerable, to be seen, to be heard. All of that can be emulated within the counselling session.
Katherine Hurtig
Anything else you'd like to share today, Rasha? Anything that you really want people to know if they're feeling lonely?
Rasha Taha
I want people to know that, as cliche as it sounds, you are not the only person experiencing this, right? And this is the ironic part of it is it often feels so unique to us and we all experience it uniquely, but we all experience it in different ways. And we can all connect with each other on this feeling and bring our own experiences into it. And so in order for us to try to alleviate that feeling, we do need connection. And we can connect on the feeling, right? What it's like to have felt lonely. That can even be something that we talk to people who already exist in our lives about. What is it like to tap into that part of you and be able to be a little bit vulnerable there?
Katherine Hurtig
For sure.
Rasha Taha
So, yeah, I think that's a big piece is that even though it feels like you're the only one, we all experience it at some point in time. And we can all benefit from connecting with one another, even just about the feeling in order to get out of the feeling.
Katherine Hurtig
Thanks so much for talking with me today, Rasha.
Rasha Taha
For sure. Thank you.
Katherine Hurtig
You've been listening to Living Fully, a Calgary Counselling Centre podcast. Thank you for tuning in.
This episode was produced by Luiza Campos, Manuel Montano, Jenna Forbes, and by me, Katherine Hurtig.
A special thanks to Rasha Taha. Tune in on January 27th for our next episode. We'll be talking about resilience and how we choose to show up when life is hard.
Ashley Enzie
So I think firstly, we don't have to turn our hardships into sunshine all the time. And, you know, just because we can learn or grow through hardships doesn't mean we would ever willingly kind of choose it as a particular teacher. But often in life, this is kind of how we get our teachers. We don't get to choose them. So I think this question of like, how can we be present with it? And I think it kind of often calls us to look at the larger context of pain and to be willing to see both difficulty and possibility in it.
Katherine Hurtig
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