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How can I be happy without friends and family?

307 Answers
Last Updated: 12/18/2021 at 3:50am
How can I be happy without friends and family?
1 Tip to Feel Better
Greece
Moderated by

Maria Wasielewski, Master of Arts in Counseling and Guidance, University of Arizona

Licensed Professional Counselor

I am inspired when working with clients, who are facing challenging life experiences, to be able to help them to develop the needed skills to live their best possible life!

Top Rated Answers
LifeCoachMelanieM
April 25th, 2019 5:37am
I’m hearing that you think you have to have friends and family to BE happy. I can understand how you might feel that way. But you can absolutely be happy! Getting there isn’t easy. But you can do it! You have to be happy internally with yourself. It’s a process. Get comfortable with being by yourself, enjoy your time. There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. Not having friends or family doesn’t mean you have to be lonely and unhappy. Practice being confident and OK with not having family and friends. Practice displaying that internal confidence, and I bet your happiness will come automatically. And I even bet that it will draw people to you.
sourpatchsnail
August 15th, 2021 12:47am
Hi! In all honesty, find things that excite you. If you don't have or want friends or family around, then there's no one there to knock you down! Whether it be a hobby like composing or germinating fungal spores or breeding freshwater aquatics, or a particular show or book series, you have all the time to fully engross yourself in it without someone's vexing judgement hanging over your head! Don't be afraid to experiment with anything and everything constantly to find what suits the ever-evolving you. I'd hope you don't get lonely, as some force themselves into isolation without wanting to, but if that's not your case then go all out, my friend. Maybe get a small pet, like a fish or axolotl to keep you company (can you tell freshwater biology is my hobby?) or have another positive presence nearby. Best of luck!
kindPanda75
April 17th, 2019 10:48pm
Getting out in nature, enjoy what you have close by, appreciate your local wildlife, there is nothing wrong with going for a coffee on your own and reading a paper for a hour. Go out for a ride on a bike and enjoy what you see, or just watch a film, there are some good ones out there from time to time, I love to get out and see what nature has to offer though, use a camera or phone and enjoy it all, we live on a small planet that is dying make the most of what you have got
Anonymous
September 8th, 2018 11:16am
We humans are social beings. We cannot live without family and friends. It's being in a community that keeps us surviving. But they can't be there for us all the time. We have to spend a lot of time developing our knowledge and skills; and most of the times, it's a very lonely road. It can be lonely but it's very beautiful. There can be days when we feel low but it's the faith that keeps us going. -We don't need a lot of people in our life to be happy. It could even be a single close friend who is like a family. Even a pet can be your best friend. -Feeling loved and giving love makes us happy. -If you're sad, help someone and bring a smile on their face. It would make your day no matter how hard it was.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2018 8:50am
Find something that interest you that you can engage in, take time to focus on yourself but don't bog yourself down in thoughts. An interest is good for that and it doesn't have to be continual or pressuring.
butterflyListener
November 17th, 2021 3:10am
The deepest form of happiness comes from you. Learning to be happy when alone is not easy and can take time, but it’s truly fulfilling. Try focusing on you, want you want and need, and who you want to be. Accept yourself for who you truly are. Take a step toward loving the person you see in the mirror. Remember that friends and family may come and go, and lonely times may get us feeling sad, but you can still have a deep solid happiness founded in your inner strength and commitment to living the best life that you deserve.
skyfield01
November 4th, 2021 2:51pm
We, as humans, are built for social interaction, human communication, and healthy attachment. It is one of our main traits and part of our survival needs. However, there might be some instances in life that we must need solitude to connect to ourselves. One can be happy for a moment through effective introspection, self-assessment, and positive self-communication. Isolation is necessary for growth and personal enhancement from time to time. Even plants need space to grow, so do animals who value time for themselves alone. And a person can achieve happiness through appreciation of the time of isolation and understanding the need for it for personal development.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2018 1:53pm
Make yourself your best friend Don't depend too much on poeple treat yourself like you are your first love
Anonymous
August 8th, 2018 1:56pm
Maybe you can get yourself a pet. Dogs may help. They show a lot of love and they will listen. They can sense when there owner is sad.
Anonymous
October 29th, 2021 4:19am
Some things that make me happy without friends or family is by listening to music, being by the water and/or nature, going for walks. I also enjoy taking the time out to reflect and when I feel myself being on the go too much I do my best to rebalance, become present and be still. It's important for me to nourish my soul with things that bring me joy and while friends and family is a big contributor to that being comfortable just with myself as well is great. I often find solace in exploring and doing things by myself.
jovialScenery77
August 10th, 2018 10:18am
Well you have more time for your own activities like watching tv shows and anime or playing a musical instrument or video games. Watching Youtube and many more, once you get bored of those maybe sign up for a class
gmoney678
August 11th, 2018 4:43am
You can find what makes you happy. ANYTHING! Whether it be pampering yourself or going on a walk. There's so many ways to feel positive in your life. You just have to find whats right for you.
Anonymous
August 11th, 2018 2:58pm
You can try to find yourself a hobby. Do things that make you happy. I am sure that will make you happy.
Anonymous
August 18th, 2018 4:49am
You should focus on yourself by experimenting with different hobbies such as drawing, writing, and even gaming. To entertain yourself is a way to be able to survive without being dependent on another person to fill that void. You must find that one thing that you’re able to enjoy with yourself and you will find it is more easy to cope with other peoples unavailablity and conflicting schedules. You will also develope a healthy relationship with yourself and be able to know who you truly are as a person. Filling your day with personal healthy hobbies and actions is key to being happy without involving anyone else.
Anonymous
October 17th, 2021 8:38am
Learn to covet and appreciate your own company. Do the things you love doing and recognize you have the freedom and privilege to spend your time the way you want to without having to worry about toxic family members and uncaring friends. Travel, read the books you want, spend as much time at home as you want, cook the food you want and whenever you want. Understand that the most important relationship any of us will ever have is with ourselves. We are the only people that fully understand our struggles and our motivations. We also need to recognize that the feeling of loneliness or of being misunderstood is a universal one, because no one really knows our past or our thought process or our characters. Once you appreciate that you are your own best company, and that others will often either misunderstand or neglect you, as much as misunderstand and neglect others, then you will learn to finally be free and content with your own company. Being alone is a huge blessing, and the faster we all realize this, the better :)
Anonymous
August 23rd, 2018 12:33am
There are many ways to be happy, without friends or family. Although not having those people can be a real struggle, and it can be quite upsetting, you can find ways to be happy. You can take part in activists you enjoy, or try to find other activities that you might like. You can seek good habits, and try to learn from them. You can search for a dream career, and try to get to that point, working at everything you need to achieve it. You could also go and try to find friends, and maybe make some really good ones. Maybe find a girlfriend or boyfriends that you really love. There's always something in this world that can make you have, even if it seem options are slim.
Joisey
September 5th, 2018 8:30pm
You are living for yourself. Learn how to spend time yourself and be your best friend. No one can live without friends till die, it's just a process, it doesn't means its your fault. You don't have to get on well with the other people. Be yourself always. Have new interests, go for walking, or a cinema, don't feel embarassed to be alone, because there's nothing to feel like that. Your family just creates you, we live together for long time so it must be hard to live seperate. You don't have to live together with them though. Live just for yourself. There is no one who is more important you.
Anonymous
October 28th, 2018 8:47pm
we can stay happy without friends and family doing the work what we love the most like we all need money for that we do study make ourselves a better person in so many ways and we do other things too to get a good job so we need to do what the person have always willing to be and other things a one can include doing exercises that would make the person feel positive and strong thorughout the day and will not feel tired and will be happy always other things can be including some musical instruments if a person likes one can learn playing that,that would surely work and friends and family would be not much required
Anonymous
March 23rd, 2019 4:29pm
Well, it is not easy to be happy without family and friends but it can be done. I would say you will have to learn how to love yourself and begin to appreciate yourself regardless if other people are in your life. One thing you can do is buy you a pet or perhaps some gold fish to give you something to care for and to love in the absent of having family members and friends that are active involved in your life. However, I would also suggest volunteering to other services that can use people to assist in places like the Red Cross, children shelters, nursing homes and hospitals that can use volunteering services. I wish you nothing but the best as you move forward with your life.
hopefulArrow2212
June 5th, 2021 2:46pm
Happiness is from within. We can also feel unhappy although we may be with our loved ones. To be happy, we must feel satisfied with ourselves and our lives. We must be able to have a way to destress on our own, it is very important to step back and smell the roses every once in a while and be grateful for what we have, and take joy in life's small pleasures. It does not have to be something of a monetary cost. It could be something simple like making someone smile because you complimented them, in turn, that will also make you happy. Or doing some exercise, which is known for releasing endorphines which make one happy. It could be just spending some quiet time making a cup of tea and people watching. When we slow down and destress, and appreciate those moments, then we can find little pockets of happiness and satisfaction in our life.
whoisabree13
December 26th, 2018 8:29am
You can be happy without friends or family by realizing your worth and value. Nothing is more empowering than self love and what you can give yourself. In this world, the amount of people that will come and go is astronomical. The one constant is yourself, who you are in the mirror and the person that you continue to build up. Life can be draining sometimes, and it may be challenging to stand and fight when the oxygen is knocked from your lungs, but you'll rise again. You'll stand, you'll walk and you'll be okay. Keep fighting, it's completely worth it. Be you, unconditionally and love yourself.
helpfulJoy
November 30th, 2018 3:42pm
There are many things you can do to be happy without friends or family get a strong sense of self. Do something for yourself get a hobby, read a good book or learn a new skill. Create an environment where your are genuinely happy. Then anything else would just be a bonus. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being alone sometimes we discovered so many great qualities about ourselves in that space. That happiness also could attract people to you and with your new self-confidence it may help in meeting new people you can connect with and open your world.
Anonymous
November 4th, 2018 8:28am
Happiness doesn’t come from people around us it comes from within. Happiness is something that can never be found if we search for it . Only found when we accept things around us. Happiness is being contented and satisfied in the present. When start loving yourself there will be nothing that can break your inner peace and happiness. Every relationship that you have has come after your soul has taken a body. So every relation that you have is attached to the body not to the soul. Soul is free from every relationship when you realise this you will gain ultimate peace and happiness.
Anonymous
November 1st, 2018 3:20pm
Without friends and family, we tend to feel lonely. But it's not impossible to be happy without friends and family. Happiness is created by yourself, it's not something that happens by chance. It depends on how you react towards a situation and challenges. Happiness is about how you think. Happiness is not about having zero failures or bad times in your life, but it's about how you can still be happy even with those hard times. Besides, volunteering in social work by helping the others can improve one's happiness. It'll make you feel needed and most importantly, you'll feel great about yourself. By social work, you'll not feel lonely because helping the others make you feel that you are in a community. It makes you feel, togetherness. Sharing can also be a way to gain more.
Clarisse29
October 3rd, 2018 6:54am
By engaging in things and hoboes that you enjoy. Discovering and researching over things. Building our personality. Practising self care and mindfulness. Utilising our time in helping other and spreading kindness in the world. Being nice to the people we meet and giving in all that we have to the service of the world. Also, doing creative things helps like cooking embroidery and form of art. Etc. without friends and family, it is pretty lonely I agree but as long as we keep our selves company and enjoy our own company it’s not going to affect us much. We should keep that in mind
GirirajKulkarni
September 13th, 2018 1:00pm
It may seem difficult but if try out find what interests you like reading books,solving puzzles ,learning new things etc would help you to be quite busy and you will enjoy the work as you like those things and that means you will be happy. Of course initially it's difficult to work on to be consistent .But you need to have persistance and focus and you will be able to do that new thing easily .Its becomes very easy this way when you distract yourself from those thoughts like missing someone will not make you sad. Thanks for reading .
Anonymous
September 23rd, 2018 4:43am
I think.. Happiness is where your home is. It doesn't have to be always family or friends. It could be a place, other person, or other things. I personally thinks sometimes I am better without my family, because they're sometimes toxic and didn't lead me to a better thinking. Leaving them probably will end up good to me. It's different for every family actually. There are people who needs comfort from their family whether they knew it or now. Happiness can't be forced, but when we're able to accept things just as it is, we can make the happiness flow into our life. So I think, you could be happy even without your friends or family. It's up to you where your 'home' is.
Anonymous
September 1st, 2021 12:08pm
To be truly happy, the sense of happiness should arise within you. Self-love and self-care can prove to be beneficial in order to be happy. However, the happiness should not fade thinking you are away from friends and family. Because this thought can prove to be detrimental as it can result in many negative thoughts. Calmness can be found from within without the assistance of others. However it has to be so strong that it can be maintained even if others are not around you. To put it in simple words, happiness from within comes from knowing your self-worth without it being dependent on whether others are with you or not.
Anonymous
October 4th, 2018 10:06am
Learning to be happy without friends or family can include knowing your strengths without them. Some people do not have a choice to have a family or not. Those who don't usually find a remedy not having one. Some replace family with friends. When a person doesn't have friends, sometimes they can replace them with family. Some people have other alternatives and reasons for not having friends. Many jobs require multiple days at a time being there so you might not have time to maintain or make friends. Some people have social issues that refrain them from making friends.
Anonymous
October 12th, 2018 1:06pm
Sometimes it takes time to find your tribe. What I mean by this is that we have different periods of our life where it can feel lonely. What are some ways you can enjoy time with yourself? Maybe find a hobby that does not require others, but could lead to friends. A book club? How about a yoga class? Painting? It all depends on your specific talents and areas of interest. Maybe you can ask other members of this site even what they do to enjoy some alone time and self care. We all need to spend some quality time with ourselves.