LTA || LONELINESS IN HIGH-FUNCTIONING INDIVIDUALS || WEDNESDAY 27TH MAY, 2026

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]It can show in your thinking. It can show in your behavior as well. Yeah. So that is loneliness.

[00:00:09]We also want to establish who is discussion.

[00:00:17]>> Well, so so first first let me let me say that loneliness for example is not only found in adults or high functioning people as we are going to talk about. You can find it in youth, you can find it in children as well. But today since we are talking about um high functioning people who are high functioning people anyway, I mean these are people who are driven most of the time to achieve a goal. they are able to succeed in their their purpose and uh things that society sees them as doing and all that and they are able to manage people manage situations and all that in the midst of all the challenges they go through. So it's not that somebody is highly functioning but does not have challenges. The person has their own challenges but even in the midst of that they are able to succeed achieve their goals and uh the purpose that they set they are able to manage people they are able to still smile and go about various duties you know amongst them. Yeah >> speaking isolation isolation Okay. So, loneliness and isolation have some similarities, right? But isolation is more objective and measurable.

[00:02:01]So, you can be isolated for a period of time. That means that you don't um mingle with all everyone, right? You have limited number of people that you associate with at a point in time and that one is measurable. So you can even achieve something from it. So let me take for example a monk right a monk can decide to isolate themselves over a period of time but they come back feeling peaceful and refreshed right but loneliness in itself is subjective. It is how an individual feels.

[00:02:44]It is how you are feeling and the impact of that feeling right could be um painful because that is not what you are expecting to have like as an individual.

[00:02:59]Yes. So there could be um some similarities but it it doesn't um it it's not the same. One is objective, one is subjective. Yes.

[00:03:13]>> So what you said is that isolation is subjective.

[00:03:18]>> No, isolation is objective.

[00:03:20]>> Subjective.

[00:03:21]>> Yes.

[00:03:21]>> Isolation is subjective. Yes. Loneliness is >> loneliness is subjective. It's how I feel. So you realize that there are differences.

[00:03:29]There are differences amongst us. the way I feel about a particular thing which I think I'm feeling lonely about will not be the same as you.

[00:03:41]Okay. So I can be feeling lonely about um probably some sort of discussion we are having in a group right but even amongst that group just as we are having the discussion I don't feel the sense of belonging I don't feel okay right even amongst us as a group so that is how I feel but the others there are very okay they seem to be cooperating and understanding you know emotional everything that is going on but even as I'm sitting there in the group I still do not feel okay I don't see the sense of belonging because of what is going on >> okay you mention the group so it means that does it mean someone can be surrounded by a lot of people yet they alone >> most of the time so you can you can find people at a party a whole party has been organized You see people jumping around or people are eating, drinking, dancing.

[00:04:47]Yet you realize that the person stands there and is like just watching.

[00:04:54]Sometimes they even try to you try to move them. Some friends will come and call you to go and dance and all that, but you still don't feel the sense of belonging, right? You don't feel that that is where you need to be, right? And even after the party, you feel tired like why did I even go there in the first place? So people can be amongst a whole lot and still feel that there's no connection right there's no social connection in the kind of relationship I have with these people and then that's when the loneliness starts >> for them. Right?

[00:05:36]>> Okay. Okay. So proceeding I would want us to look at why does high functioning people get hit the hard the hardest and what are some of the signs we can look out for.

[00:05:50]Sometimes we feel that the high functioning people get hit the hardest but everybody can be at that stage at a point in time right because it's a subjective thing and it's a feeling right you can you can be somebody who probably is not high functioning can be relative how do you define how we define high functioning could be probably if I have achieved in managing a project. I could be a high functioning person, right? And then somebody who also has millions and millions of dollars and running a lot of organizations can be a high functioning person. But you see most of the time society is built in such a way that sometimes people come to you because of what they get. So then it becomes like some sort of transaction.

[00:06:44]So you realize that some high functioning people look at them themselves as these people that I'm connecting with right is it genuine can I trust them um when they come to me and they see that I do ABC in this way which is not what society approves will they take me for who I am so there's a lot of questions when it comes to hiding high functioning people. There's a lot of money. Are these people coming to me because of the money? What else could it be? So, there are lots of questions. So, they coil up and tend to micromanage the people that they hang around with.

[00:07:34]And even as they hang around these people, the question is still at the back of the mind. What is pushing these people to me? Am I able to connect with them? Now, another reason that makes it difficult for them to really connect and start feeling lonely is you see as soon as you get to that a certain level, society puts a certain image on you.

[00:08:04]So, you must keep up that appearance.

[00:08:08]And in keeping that appearance, you may not be fulfilling what you would have liked to do. So you'll be doing something to fulfill what society thinks or what society is expecting and that that alone is making you feel you're not in place. I have all this but then what next?

[00:08:32]So you realize that they have a lot of people to connect with but is it a genuine connection?

[00:08:40]That is also a question. Is it a genuine connection? We could relate in the church in the community and all that.

[00:08:48]But maybe the person I am, the church will not look at me that way. They are expecting ABC from me. And maybe within me I'm not able to fulfill it. But because I am a high functioning person I must do all that I can I have to put on that smile. So you realize that they don't complain much because what does society expect as soon as you start complaining they start oh and are you sure because a high functioning person is seen to be ah you have it all everything is in place. So then why do you come and complain? So the person also puts on that smiling face and then all the time keeping up appearances and for you to keep up that in itself can be a lonely journey.

[00:09:43]>> Thank you Dr. So I want I want you to help us with what are some of the subtle signs we can >> Oh so as for the signs you see because a high functioning person is expected to be very successful very uh lively bubbly all the time as if as for you you don't have any problems of your own right so sometimes it becomes very difficult to identif identify some of the key signs. But one of the common things that you can find is that you realize that as they connect with people, right, they may be talking about issues, but they will not say anything about themselves.

[00:10:33]There's nothing personal that you can get from it. We can flow and have a conversation. All right?

[00:10:40]But you see anything personal that I I may want to say may contradict what you are expecting. So I wouldn't even talk about it. Some of them they keep themselves very busy.

[00:10:53]They are always busy constantly. You it's like they don't have time. As soon as there's the they slow down, they start thinking they start feeling the loneliness because it's like socially I'm not able to connect, right? So you realize that they start um keeping themselves busy all the time.

[00:11:18]Some people turn to social media.

[00:11:22]Some of them they turn to social media and they tend to social media to receive um acceptance right they want to understand that I'm being accepted as probably who I am they come and post things some people post things and you read it and you're just wondering is it is it this person it's not really connecting the person we know under normal circumstance you understand and you're just wondering But you see this is something genuinely the person wants to project but he cannot project it at certain places.

[00:12:00]Some of them overeat or undereat. So they lose their appetite to eat and some of them eat you know to fulfill certain pleasures within them right and then some people too are not able to sleep.

[00:12:20]sleeping becomes a problem because they feel society does not understand them.

[00:12:26]they are not able to connect well the people I want to connect with I'm not able to right so then how do I sleep they keep thinking so they have their organizations and people to manage and they have themselves to also manage so they are not even able to sleep so keeping busy they try to ignore certain conversations they turn to social media they either over eat and I eat they feel depressed they feel anxious because as I'm going out there what is society expecting am I able to connect is this me right so there's a lot of questions so these are some of the subtle things that you could find and some sometimes you watch out within the family the church the workplace and you can find such people I keep saying that when people come to work and you think that everything is okay just because they are putting on that smile. It's not always like that for all that to know they are keeping the smile on because they don't want you to ask questions but deep within them there are lots of questions to be answered.

[00:13:50]>> Thank you doc. They putting on the smile so they don't ask them questions. This time I want to get a bit personal. Have you ever experienced this yourself? And what changed for you?

[00:14:03]>> Loneliness in itself can come in just a brief moment, right? I have experienced it at a point in in in my life when I felt things were tough.

[00:14:21]You know when things are tough and you feel that you can't really there are things that you can't really talk about to people right and you feel if I say this thing in this way would people understand it therefore you tend to coil in I have experienced it I mean with work with personal issues I have experienced it and sometimes you don't identify it as loneliness until it hits a point where chal you can't do you can't do much about it so I have equally gone through that as well and on on another part I would like to say that loneliness for example with high functioning personality does not only come in at the workplace That's one thing we need to know. Not only at the workplace, it could be within the family. It could be within the community. It could be within your relationship as in finding um um love some way. You could still experience that loneliness. Even in marriage, you could still experience the loneliness. And it's one key thing that married people seem to fight within a lot when it comes to these kind of connections. Yeah.

[00:15:58]>> Okay. Thank you, Doc. Since we are in the mental health month, I want us to look at the mental health angle. So, how does it show up mentally?

[00:16:10]>> How does loneliness show up mentally? So you you realize that um some tend to coil up, right? They try they try to be on their own. They don't talk much.

[00:16:28]So as you keep thinking and reflecting on all your expectations and what is expected of you, how to say A or B and all that, it affects the way you act.

[00:16:42]It affects the way you feel. It affects the way you process things. So something may even come up. It doesn't concern you in any way. But you feel the person is talking about you, >> right? And so you start feeling depressed. You start feeling the sense of not belonging. you start feeling that um that sort of exhaustion like you are tired, you are burnout, right? And burnout in itself is not only physical which can reflect on the way you are looking, your skin color, you you have all your breakouts on your faces espec the women for example. It's not only that but also emotional.

[00:17:33]It goes on and on and people get depressed, people get anxious and all that. So that is how it can affect you mentally because these are things that socially I'm not able to connect.

[00:17:48]I'm not able to relate with these people. I'm not able to be myself right because of ABC. But the question is the reason you are not able to connect.

[00:18:02]Is it acceptable? Is it right?

[00:18:06]And that also makes people feel lonely because then I have to with redraw and check and recheck myself, right? And all these causes a lot of mental um challenges.

[00:18:21]>> All this causes mental challenges.

[00:18:24]It's not easy. It's not.

[00:18:26]>> And I'm I'm being tempted to ask, is it the fault of the individual or the people around them?

[00:18:33]>> Oh, most of the time, you see, it's a gap. It's a gap between what society wants, what kind of connection it is, and the kind of connection I personally want.

[00:18:49]Right? So it it may not be the ind the individual has their differences as in probably how they were brought up and their experiences and then society also has what has drawn for you. So as a high functioning person you have a certain image that the society has put on you.

[00:19:10]So as for oh as for him he doesn't have a problem.

[00:19:15]So let's go to him for all that you know the problem he has is even more than yours that you are looking at but he can't really talk about it because what society is expecting he can't come and complain about his own thousand CDs 100 CDs how do you come and complain do you understand but probably the thousand CDs he's holding cannot satisfy certain things right but society is not looking at it like that.

[00:19:47]>> So he's not able that social connection is not there. So it may be the individual and the society as well. Both of them has a part to play.

[00:19:58]>> Thank you. As you speaking, h this thought came to mind that's finding genuine love.

[00:20:04]>> But then you mentioned connection. So genuine love and connection.

[00:20:09]So you see finding a genuine love for example people who feel lonely sometimes feel that when they find love right they are able to connect because this is somebody who understands you who should right understand what you're going through how you feel how you perceive things and then the person also bring the s on board and then we are able to connect so I'm able to tell you whatever it is. This is not what society thinks. Right? So in this case I feel that oh the person gets my point. The person gets what I'm driving at. I'm not being judged like how people are looking at me in society.

[00:20:57]But you see in in building this love for example there's also the question of what does the person think right these are two different individuals right am I able to speak to you as I feel right am I able to tell you the salient things as I feel if I'm able to and I trust as that I'm able to do that then it's genuine I'm able to open up with you. So you realize that when the person is relating with you, there's no form of I don't belong.

[00:21:39]But if you're not able to connect, then you start rethinking and this thing I'm about to say like am I saying it right?

[00:21:49]Is it not like a transaction? Right now there's a lot of relationships that are transactional.

[00:21:56]Transactional in the sense that I come to you because of what I get. So it doesn't make it genuine, right? If you don't have it, I'm long gone.

[00:22:09]You get it? So when it happens like that and the person is long gone, then you start feeling like, hey, so who can I get that I can really connect with?

[00:22:22]Then that is where the question between connecting and having that genuine love comes to play. Right now there's a lot of relationship is give me I give you >> even in the communication it becomes a problem. So you are careful who you relate with and who you don't.

[00:22:44]>> Thank you Dr. Anulino. Viewers, we are going on a short break and let me remind you that we are live on social media both YouTube and Facebook. Trinity United Church Leon which is situated on the Trinity Theological Seminary in Mimasm East Leon. You can send us your questions and comments on our social media platforms.

[00:23:06]So, please hang on. We'll be right back shortly.

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[00:27:53]The joyous blood that has washed us from sin out Stand to Welcome back. Still with us is Dr. Mrs. Aninulino and we are discussing loneliness in high functioning individuals. Not only in high functioning individuals but everyone experiences loneliness. You can send your comments and questions on our social media platforms both YouTube and Facebook. Doc once again thank you and welcome. And so before we left, you were talking about what society expect of us and what we expect of ourselves and uh whether the people around us are genuine people. And so because you're not able to tell whether the people surrounding us are genuine makes it difficult but then you advise us that we should try and find that connection >> between the people we surround ourselves with >> and it will help us. And moving on, I want to ask the role of our modern life in social media, how has it imparted or contributed to loneliness?

[00:29:38]>> Well, um, with high functioning people, everybody, it may either make it worse or better or you don't get it at all or minimal.

[00:29:54]Right? This is because You see social media puts some sort of image out there. Everybody is putting their statements, everybody's putting their comments and everything. So somebody may drown themselves in this social media in such a way that when they go out there and look out for what is going on, they feel ah it's as if I'm not achieving anything.

[00:30:25]me I'm not connecting with the world >> like what exactly is happening because of the kind of things that you see but you see it's not everything there that is genuine >> people creates a lot of content and if the person does not perceive it that way then it makes a person feel isolated from what society can offer right so there's some sort of illusion out there then it creates a lot of um challenges for the person to start thinking uh do I even belong in the first place? Look at all that is happening. This person has this, this person has that. But these things could be content created.

[00:31:09]So it can it can cause a lot of people coiling up and start thinking and then loneliness comes up. It can also help people to relate with whatever it is that they feel and connect with these people because oh whatever is going on that is what I think these people are able to express themselves anyhow right than what I'm able to so it means that oh there are people out there that I can relate to so then they feel free and even put comments you know and comment and follow people and and try to connect with these people because they are likeminded, right? So, social media in itself can have a two-way effect on us.

[00:31:58]>> Yeah.

[00:32:00]>> Okay. Social media can have two-way effect on us. But then we have to look out for the positive ones.

[00:32:06]>> Exactly.

[00:32:07]>> And then follow them. Thank you, talk.

[00:32:09]H. It is mostly said that men It is mostly said that men men find it difficult talking honestly about their loneliness than women. What is your take on this?

[00:32:22]>> Sometimes you ask yourself do do men feel lonely because they don't um men compared to women sometimes we don't show it right. Women will talk blah blah blah about what how they feel and how things are going, their emotions. We we tend to be more emotional. We tend to show and portray what is going on with us. But men, right from onset, when you look at society, when you look at our culture, when you look at the expectations of men, right from when you were growing up, some of the statements are like, "Man up."

[00:33:14]a statement like man up men don't cry like behave like a man I mean what do you mean by behave like a man the person is in pain the person is feeling lonely the person is it's like loneliness is like the least of what a man is supposed to even talk about what do you mean by loneliness you know so it's like it's seeing as if society does not expect a man to be lonely. Society does not expect the man to complain.

[00:33:52]Society has brought up the man such that you cannot cry.

[00:33:58]You you need to fix it. You know that statement fix it. Are you not a man? So does it mean that he doesn't have any challenges?

[00:34:09]He is also human in the first place. So There are certain emotions that are very natural, right? And you expect that the man should also be able to express it. But once society has a certain image put on the man, you don't expect the man to come and complain and even tell you that they are lonely. What is loneliness? It doesn't even sound okay when the man starts talking about it. And all these are set are are things that bring up a whole a whole lot of what mental challenges mental health challenges to men especially and also women. Some women were also brought up such that they just need to make things work right. So upbringing right and experiences in life brings certain differences when it comes to men and women. Probably women they they might listen to you because oh you're all emotional. You're going about it and blah blah blah. You can say whatever it is because oh we can express it. But can the man express it? What does society expect? What does our culture say about men?

[00:35:28]What does it say? So, can a man say he's lonely? Can he come and complain?

[00:35:35]Society glorifies the person who has strength, right? Who covers the thing up and and shows up when he or she is needed. That is what society like frames, right? So somebody a man who keeps complaining and complaining is like and that is what society gives us.

[00:36:01]Therefore it becomes difficult for the man to even say that word they are lonely but they equally go through it because they are human.

[00:36:10]So is there a difference between the aspect of men and women or >> Oh there there's a difference they they they always say that women are emotional and emotional. So they say loneliness is what a state of emotion right >> uh for us >> we can always flow and come and complain that this and this has happened and I don't even feel like I belong. So I just I just need to manage you know that we can come and complain but how many men could do that because society's expectation just as I said from the beginning there's an image that is framed out there. So imagine a high functioning person who has achieved it all. Do you think that man can come and say that they are feeling lonely? What's a cry? It's it's surprising.

[00:37:12]>> Thank you, doc. I want to find out is there any difference between enjoying solitude and still actually suffering from loneliness? Can one enjoy solitude and still suffer from loneliness?

[00:37:25]>> Oh, solitude is most of the time um a choice. You choose it, right? So, that one you can always come out of it.

[00:37:36]But loneliness, you don't choose this.

[00:37:38]It's unexpected.

[00:37:40]It's something that comes because you are not able to socially connect, right?

[00:37:46]You are not able to feel the sense of belonging.

[00:37:51]And so solitude although you can enjoy solitude, it doesn't mean that I mean uh um one can cause the other, right?

[00:38:04]But there are certain uh similarity although in solitude I can choose it's something that I choose to to do right but loneliness is not something I choose it comes as a result of not being able to connect.

[00:38:22]>> Thank you doc. Um it's not easy. Then it means that most people at a point in time they feel lonely >> at at a certain stage in everybody's life you could feel lonely depending on what their situation is.

[00:38:38]>> Yes. Even though we are discussing high functioning people I want you to help us since now most of us are parents now. It seems you are talking about the high functioning people but in children >> I want you to help us. Yes we are discussing high functioning people but how can we identify loneliness in children? So you realize that um a typical example is you realize that there are certain children you see them playing running around with their friends their colleagues all over the place and jumping and they'll still run to you as a parent and say I'm bored and sometimes you are wondering were you not the one just running around like how could you be bored when there are a whole lot of people around you right? You see if they is still the same issue of connection if they feel that the game they are playing is not something they enjoy they will never like it. They will still be playing it but in just some few minutes they feel like let's leave it and go. They could be at a party and come and tell you let's go home because the friends are not there. Those who really understand them are not there.

[00:40:00]The people they feel they can really play with, they are not there or they are not playing the way they want to play. And sometimes they feel the way parents even talk to their children, right? Can let them feel whether they belong or they don't.

[00:40:20]You have a number of children and one is treated differently. That is why some children come and they they ask whether you are actually their parent. They don't feel like this is my father, this is my mother because of the way they are spoken to.

[00:40:42]We are not correcting the wrongs the way we are supposed to correct it. You are correcting the wrong but the child does not know what you are correcting or why you are even correcting that wrong. and you're saying all manner of things to them, they'll feel that they don't belong. They don't connect. So they will withdraw. You realize that there are some children, they'll be sitting amongst their friends, but then they're not talking to anybody. They are not playing. They are just sitting in thoughts.

[00:41:15]So they withdraw from playing with their colleagues. Some of them do not really want to eat. They don't feel like eating.

[00:41:24]They don't feel like going to the places where they they think they will not find that kind of connection. So you pull them, they go and they don't want to go. Some of these children get to places like church for example, there's somebody there I don't like and because the person has done ABC I don't like. So I don't want to go to children's service.

[00:41:48]I want to come and sit with you. Have you asked why?

[00:41:53]because they are not able to connect. So they tend to withdraw from some of the things that you wish them and then we still drag them in not understanding what exactly is going on with them. So they also get depressed. I mean children also get depressed. There's depression in children as well. Children get anxious as well. So all these things may come as a form of not being able to connect socially.

[00:42:24]Thank you doc for the insight. And so to to continue I would want to you know since you deal mostly with let's say adolescence or teenagers and students >> have you come across >> Oh yes you you come across a lot of people who come to you and talk to you about certain relationships in their families.

[00:42:53]And sometimes you need to really understand what is going on in their families because it's affecting their school work.

[00:43:02]They are not able to concentrate. They are not able to relate with anybody. So rel it's the same thing goes on with high-profile people with the youth with children. It's similar.

[00:43:16]It's just that there are different degrees of it. And because it's subjective, whatever you may experience as a child, you the adults may be seeing it as what is this? How can you say you are lonely?

[00:43:28]As a child, what is loneliness? But at their level and as a human being and being subjective, the person is feeling lonely. So the student themselves can come and sometimes is what goes on in the family which is affecting their school work. They're not able to concentrate.

[00:43:49]what goes on with relationships. I mean as they go to school university students the youth and all that they form connections they form social connections and in forming the social connections they try to find genuine love.

[00:44:06]In finding this genuine love in quotes is it real or not? Sometimes they put their whole system, their whole body, their whole thoughts and everything into it and then it doesn't work out. Then they start feeling and start thinking about all sorts of things that has transpired and then they start feeling I'm not worth it.

[00:44:34]How come this person has left me? And then it starts affecting their school work as well. So you meet it all the time.

[00:44:43]It's not easy. You you mentioned genuine love and a question is coming through.

[00:44:47]Someone has sent the question. Can one find true love or genuine love in this modern world? And this is coming from Victor.

[00:44:57]>> You can you can find genuine love.

[00:45:01]It depends on what you mean by genuine love. What I may see as a genuine love may not be what somebody's genuine love is. You must know what your values are.

[00:45:14]What do you stand for? What do you expect in the relationship? Are you able to connect with this person? And when I mean connect, what is connecting for me may not be what is connecting for you.

[00:45:28]Maybe I find the person um very relational. I'm able to relate with the person. I'm able to talk about anything from football to when I'm angry I'm able to talk about it right and so that I may see as what genuine love >> but some may even pretend I mean in our society now I may want you so once I am able to identify the kind of things that you like I will pretend to also like it just because I want to relate with you. So in finding genuine love it may take a gradual process not the one that you just jump into and expect that oh this one dear is genuine a day or two it may take a whole process for you to be able to find that genuine love but it is possible you can also find genuine love in Christ.

[00:46:28]>> Thank you.

[00:46:28]>> I mean yes that is the first genuine love you can have.

[00:46:31]>> Absolutely. Absolutely. So once you are able to relate with Christ, you are able to even speak about the kind of connection you want to have and then I mean things would happen in so many ways. So genuine love is possible but it may take time when it comes to humans.

[00:46:51]Yeah.

[00:46:52]>> Thank you doc. Um we we moving towards solutions but then another question is coming through and the person is asking uh what can the family do? I think that one will come. He says that what what can the family or community do about this?

[00:47:10]So as we moving into the solutions maybe you can address that.

[00:47:15]>> Okay. also.

[00:47:16]>> So, one of the things is it cuts across everybody. Everybody has a responsibility.

[00:47:26]One of the key things is watching out for each other in your family, in your community, at your workplace, um at the church.

[00:47:39]Watching out for each other is one key thing. And watching out for each other does not mean that you are going to make an announcement to say that oh I'm watching out for those who are lonely and whatever. Some people as I said they keep up the face they still move but then genuinely they have their own challenges which is causing loneliness which they are not able to talk about. So everybody has a responsibility. Now the individual also has a responsibility on themselves.

[00:48:12]The first solution is identifying what is making me feel lonely.

[00:48:18]That is one of the key things. What is it that is making me feel lonely? And that in itself is a big and a plus solution because once you are able to identify what makes you feel lonely, it helps you to be able to identify those you could connect with even amongst your circles. You may have a lot of people right in your circles on your speed dial or whatever but it's not everybody you are able to talk to. So if you are able to identify what is it what is causing that loneliness you can identify the right people to even talk to you are able able to relate with these people and feel free around them to be able what to talk to what your challenge is and so that is one another aspect of it. When you realize that you are not able to deal with it yourself, you seek help.

[00:49:22]There's always help in in talking to the psychologist, the psychiatrist, your counselor, your pastor, a friend that you are able to connect with, a friend that you are able to relate with in such a way that the person tells you as it is, but the person helps you to become a better person.

[00:49:49]so that you can't keep on smiling when you still have these challenges at the end of the day.

[00:49:57]The other solution is that as a society the kind of image we put up there and expectations of people we must be cautious about it because see I can be a pastor for example and everybody expects me to be ojasious in such a way that hey like every minute I have to be cab but Is that what it is? Is that what my gift is? Do people understand me? They don't.

[00:50:34]And society's expectation is what is making me do things the way I'm doing it. So it doesn't help me to what connect. So the kind of image that is created there by society is also key.

[00:50:50]And once we are able to minimize all these expectations, it helps the individual to also connect better.

[00:51:01]>> Thank you, Doc. And uh brethren, I've learned a lot and as Doc was speaking, I put certain things together and I would like to read them to you before Doc gives us her closing remarks even as we are waiting for more questions. And what I was able to put together is that he says that loneliness isn't a weakness from all doc said it says that it is a signal telling us that we need a real connection not just a contact. So you don't have to wait for the crisis to answer it. But then one honest conversation can change everything. One honest conversation can change everything. And so doc, I want you to share with us your closing remarks as we bring today's session >> to a close.

[00:51:52]>> Yes, please.

[00:51:53]>> I would like to let everybody understand that it is a stage is an emotional stage and although it's painful there's always a solution to it.

[00:52:07]Um you don't need to see it as you are alone in this. You can always seek for help. Seek for help by identifying probably what is it that is causing this loneliness. If you are not able to do that um by yourself, you can always talk to someone. When you want a psychologist, when you want a psychiatrist, when you want a counselor, there's always a way of getting through to them. psychologists, psychiatrists, for example, when you go to our various hospitals everywhere in Ghana, you can find psychologists. You can also have referrals from friends or let's say your pastor can also help you out. There are counselors in church, counselors amongst um the hospitals and all that. when you speak to them, they can always get you a um somebody to talk to to help in um getting your solution. You are not alone. It's a stage and it's not a weakness as you said. And always um remember that there's always help in the corner. There's somebody there you could talk to. You need to identify the right people.

[00:53:27]>> You need to identify the right people.

[00:53:30]You are not alone and there's help around the corner. Dr. Mrs. Aninkulino, thank you once again. It's it's it's great to have you back in our studios and it's always an awesome moment to have you here. We are very grateful on behalf of the whole team. We are very grateful. We want to say thank you for making the time to come and speak to us.

[00:53:56]So brethren, we've come to the end of today's session of let's talk about and as I said we've been we were joined by Dr. Mrs. Aninkulino who is the registister deputy registister at Nat University in East Leon. So for those who want to reach out to her you can pass by and then she will gladly attend to you. We hope you have enjoyed this interesting topic and kindly join us next week for another interesting discussion. My name is NS Kilson and I was your host for today.

[00:54:35]Have a good night and stay blessed.

[00:56:07]Jesus calls us out of the world to be a holy people and preached unto his father that we may