{"id":692,"date":"2011-09-05T11:20:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T15:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=692"},"modified":"2011-09-05T11:20:55","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T15:20:55","slug":"h-a-l-t-dont-get-too-lonely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/h-a-l-t-dont-get-too-lonely.html","title":{"rendered":"H.A.L.T. – Don’t Get Too Lonely"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t get too hungry or too angry. Either one can cause you to abandon ship and ditch your healthy eating plan for a sugar binge.\u00a0 The sugar and carbs give an immediate rush of comfort, but then it is over.\u00a0 You feel rotten and the problem is still there — a situation drug and alcohol users know all about.<\/p>\n

The third part of the acronym, H.A.L.T., is “L” for lonely.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get too lonely<\/em>.\u00a0 When you feel isolated and alone, you think, \u201cWho cares what I look like anyway? I might as well as enjoy myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are some serious things wrong with this dangerous thought pattern. \u00a0 For one thing, we aren\u2019t focusing on how we LOOK anyway, remember?\u00a0 We are going for something Beyond Gorgeous — a healthy, vibrant, active, fulfilling life.\u00a0 It matters how you FEEL — and binging is going to make you feel lousy physically and feel like a failure emotionally. \u00a0 The comfort food isn\u2019t really going to comfort you, anyway.\u00a0 When the bag of chips is empty, you will still feel lonely.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s figure out how to avoid the too lonely<\/em> trap.\u00a0 We all feel isolated at times.\u00a0 If emptiness has taken over your life, though, it\u2019s time to do something about it.\u00a0 Maybe you need to enlarge your world and get involved. \u00a0Click here to read about things that are fulfilling — not just filling.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are lots of people in the world who are lonelier than you are.\u00a0 Drop in at any nursing home and you will find them aplenty.\u00a0 If you have evenings when you are by yourself and bored, try dedicating some time to visit in a nursing home.\u00a0 Perhaps you have a skill to teach like knitting or painting.\u00a0 Ask for the activities director and offer to help.\u00a0 Just sitting and chatting — or listening — can make you an answer to prayer to some forgotten person.<\/p>\n

When I visited a little girl from our church in the Children\u2019s Hospital, I found another need. The sound of crying echoed down the hallway.\u00a0 I learned from my friend that this sobbing two-year-old boy had heart surgery and was in pain — and alone.\u00a0 Although his family lived nearby, they didn\u2019t come to visit him.\u00a0 He was there, hurting and afraid, with no one to comfort him.\u00a0 The nurse told me that is often the case. Often children are left by themselves.\u00a0 Sometimes the families live too far away to come and stay, sometimes they don\u2019t care, and sometimes the children are in the foster care system and have no parents.\u00a0 She also told me that the hospital is always looking for volunteers to sit with kids to give comfort.<\/p>\n

Those are just two examples of ways to get involved.\u00a0 You can do something simpler, like looking up old friends and giving them a phone call or inviting the new members from church over to get acquainted.<\/p>\n

The Bible says, \u201cHe that hath friends must show himself friendly.\u201d (Proverbs 18:24) Take that as your watchword. Reach out to people instead of waiting in solitude for them to reach out to you.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that you don\u2019t need the cookies. You won\u2019t be too lonely.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t get too hungry or too angry. Either one can cause you to abandon ship and ditch your healthy eating plan for a sugar binge.\u00a0 The sugar and carbs give an immediate rush of comfort, but then it is over.\u00a0 You feel rotten and the problem is still there — a situation drug and alcohol…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[143,174,161,173],"class_list":["post-692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-addiction","tag-alone","tag-h-a-l-t","tag-lonely"],"yoast_head":"\nH.A.L.T. - Don't Get Too Lonely - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/h-a-l-t-dont-get-too-lonely.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"H.A.L.T. - Don't Get Too Lonely - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don\u2019t get too hungry or too angry. Either one can cause you to abandon ship and ditch your healthy eating plan for a sugar binge.\u00a0 The sugar and carbs give an immediate rush of comfort, but then it is over.\u00a0 You feel rotten and the problem is still there — a situation drug and alcohol…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/h-a-l-t-dont-get-too-lonely.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-05T15:20:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"H.A.L.T. - Don't Get Too Lonely - Beyond Gorgeous","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/09\/h-a-l-t-dont-get-too-lonely.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"H.A.L.T. - Don't Get Too Lonely - Beyond Gorgeous","og_description":"Don\u2019t get too hungry or too angry. 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