I have found that with college come many strange feelings.
A couple of weeks ago I spent an hour or two finishing an English paper. A wash of despair passed over me as I sat back and watched the printer spit out my work. I was not tired, and the anxiety had nothing to do with the quality of the paper. The severe weight of sudden loneliness pressed on my chest. I sighed.
“Love is needed,” I said to myself.
It’s a feeling I get sometimes. An unwelcome and unusual sense of loneliness. I can’t figure out if it’s the dorm life or the still-queasy transition from having your parents running your life to being totally on your own.
I told many of my acquaintances about my strange, sudden feelings that came and went without notice, and apparently I wasn’t alone in my suffering. A friend of mine proposed the LSU group hug.
“We should have everyone in the dorms gather on the parade ground and hug. Or, we could have one of those laughing clubs like in India, you know?”
She spoke about the social clubs in India, whose purpose is to alleviate stress through the healing power of laughter. Large groups of people would congregate and begin to laugh, and, laughter being contagious, the entire crowd would soon begin to guffaw. Through laughter, the clubs overcome the impersonal aspects of society and help a person feel more connected with those around him or her.
Perhaps she’s right. It might be great to have a laughing club at LSU. It would be simple and cost-effective, and it will be bizarre, yes. But would it not be worthwhile if it cheered a single person, let alone a large group?
But laughing clubs and group hugs aren’t the only ways to alleviate loneliness. I stumbled onto www.campusblues.com the other day. The Web site is a sort of self-help guide for college students feeling down in the dumps. It tells of ways to organize your time and straighten out your schedule so your alone time won’t be spent being lonely. It’s pleasant, and I recommend it.
One thing I constantly have heard reinforced is to get involved around campus. Loneliness visits everyone, but sometimes it is more profound in those who are not involved with the world around them. Are you feeling lonelier than you think you should? Join a club. Join two. Or start one. The network of people who instantly become your comrades when you join a club could become your next group of good friends. What better way to find people compatible with yourself than to join a group that shares your interests?
Too shy to start or join a club? Contact me. I don’t bite. Working together the LSU Club of Perpetual Laughter could become a reality, rather than a laughable idea. Sometimes the ideas that sound the dumbest turn out to be wholly useful. And why not give it a try? Anything to combat the unbearable fatigue of loneliness.