Struggling With Loneliness After Divorce? Here Are 4 Great Ways To Use The Gift Of Time Wisely

Loneliness is a real problem in our society according to some experts, and many divorced men and women struggle with this. Author and contributor Heather Voccola speaks from her heart and her personal experience,  offering 5 excellent ways to make positive use of your time and overcome loneliness.

Not everyone who gets divorced struggles with being lonely, but a great many Catholics do, and that loneliness compounds the pain of being divorced. In my own experience, the remedy for this is an even tougher struggle; learning how to enjoy my own company. I have to learn to be comfortable in my own skin. Getting comfortable doing things on my own is a major step, a necessary step in my healing process.

I have been thinking the last few days about the recent martyrdom of Fr. Jacques Hamel, and how in contrast to the way he lived his life, I have a tendency to focus on the empty hours that make up so much of my time as a single Catholic. We are reminded in the Gospel of Mark:

“But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray;[a] for you do not know when the time will come (Mark 13: 32-33).

So, rather than worrying about how to fill all of those empty hours, I’d like to focus on some positive things that we all should be working into our lives. Here is a list of things to do that will help us stay focused on what is really important, help us to fill up some of those empty hours and work to build our relationship with Jesus even stronger.