Private Hells

 Another topic which I am sure I have written about before but can't for the life of me find. I really need to get better at titling my posts, possibly prioritizing utility over catchiness. Today's post is about how private hells feel less hellish when the outer world is hell. It is prompted by the cancellation of Christmas in England, and how many people will have to spend Christmas alone this year. But, surely that can't be worse than spending Christmas alone in a normal year, which would have marked one as abnormal, in one's own eyes if no one else's. How much can one feel alone if everyone is alone? I know, easy for an introvert to say. I have enough anecdotal evidence showing that people suffering from depression (not anxiety) have fared much better than expected during the pandemic. The outer world is a art of individual mental worlds, and changes in it can have a profound change on our inner worlds. Sometimes when everyone is alone, one feels less alone. In  such circumstaces, being alone doesn't grate on one's self esteem, because being alone is the norm. It doesn't invite questions, curiosity, concern or pity, either from others or from ourselves.  Judgement is suspended, openness is embraced.