At some point in your life, you may feel isolated. This might be during a short phase of life, such as when you’re a developing teenager, it might be a long-lasting sensation or it may even be a sudden feeling of loneliness.

Regardless of how long or how suddenly your sense of isolation develops, it can be pretty daunting to feel this way. When you feel like you don’t belong, you can lose a sense of hope for anything good or feeling happy again. You’re more prone to anxiety and depression. 

So, why on earth would anyone feel this way? Well, everyone is different and experiences these feelings for different reasons. Sometimes you feel this way because of an action or event in life. Sometimes you feel this way because of medical reasons, such as mental health issues. Sometimes you feel this way because you are not taking good care of yourself.

To help you understand why you may be feeling like you don’t belong and how you can address this issue, here are some reasons why you may feel like you don’t belong in this world:

You hide your feelings and passions

Whether it’s for fear of rejection or because of low self-esteem, if you hide your true self from others, you’ll feel isolated and like you don’t belong in the world. It’s important to be honest with others, express your interests and pursue your passions. If someone else rejects you for who you are, this can hurt, but don’t be deterred. There are others who would love to welcome you as you are.

You’re changing as a person

You might develop feelings of isolation if you’re in a period of growth or change in your life. This is normal for teenagers whose bodies are experiencing a lot of change. This is also normal for anyone who’s growing in any mental or spiritual sense.

If you’re going through a season of growth or change, keep in mind that you need to be honest with others and express yourself to help combat the sensations of isolation. Perhaps, you may even need to find other people to be around if those around you are not growing or changing with you.

You don’t have a solid community

Have you recently moved? Or, maybe you haven’t moved but your current community feels unwelcoming and unfriendly. If you don’t have solid people around you who can support you, laugh with you, teach you or otherwise invest in you, then you might feel alone in this world.

Find a community that is willing to love and accept you. If this means saying goodbye to another community, it can be hard, but may be worth it in the long run for the sake of your mental health. 

If you are wondering what it means to authentically follow Jesus, join us on Unfiltered Radio as we investigate who He claimed to be and how He taught us to interact with one another.