Loneliness in our society seems to be increasing. Despite the interconnection we have with each other online, it’s not deep or intimate. We have platforms that help us hook up with like minded people, but we lack the relationships in our lives with those who take the time to understand us in a meaningful, thoughtful way. We need complex conversations, coupling and emotional bonds that allow others to understand the essence of who we are.
There are traditional ways for us to end loneliness, and connect personally with others. However, it can be difficult to get out of our comfort zones, and step out into the real world, socially. Some people need to just avoid other human beings altogether, yet still yearn for a profound association with people. This might seem impossible for those lonely individuals who have felt alone for a long time. They just can’t imagine what it would be like to have close relationships with other people. But, the imagination can be a powerful tool to help with loneliness. This is why we propose that people pretend to be part of an established family already. A television family.
The benefits of pretending to be part of a Television family, as opposed to having an imaginary friend is that you can take the story of your relationship in any direction you want it to go, within the parameters of a true social dynamic. The cast of characters can also be plentiful and each one unique. This allows you the practice needed to grow and nurture your relationships with the fictional family you have created.
Now some people may think this is crazy…and they are probably right, but this creativity can be a good tool to become comfortable with “people”, until they can move on to the real world application of what they have learned about connecting with others socially.
Carllrac Presents…
Pretend to be part of a television family, to cope with loneliness.
1) Act like you are a mid-series replacement that was injected into the series to help boost ratings. This will allow you to gain self confidence, knowing that the producers of this fictional that you consider your life, needed you to come in midstream, and save it from stagnation.
2) You spend an evening pretending to be in a scenario where you positively impacted the life of the family's alcoholic teenage son, but rather than attending to his mental and emotional needs, you become the center of attention for this make-believe family. Pretending to be in this television scenario is a good opportunity to help you create a sense of greater self worth that you may have been missing, due to your real world loneliness.
3) Every holiday season, you find yourself alone in a college dorm room with a dried out table top Christmas tree, and a microwaveable turkey dinner. When you start to believe you are at your lowest emotional point of the year, your imaginary television family surprises you with a full sized tree and full course homemade traditional dinner.
This fills your heart with Christmas cheer, and love. As an added bonus, Henry the wise mailman who’s always around with timely advice drops by with a “surprise gift” from your long father. The gift turns out to be a baby picture of you, your Father and your Mother; whom no one ever talks about.
Then, just as your TV Dad starts carving up the turkey with your imaginary family around your dorm poker table, you all hear the angelic voice of, Phil, the campus hobo, singing an assortment of carols, thanks to a liquored up buzz. You pronounce as you do every year…”Best Christmas ever!”
This delusional situation you were able to create in your mind, helps you to fulfill a need of having close friends in your life. People who you are apart from physically for the most part, yet always have you within their thoughts.
4) Design your home into a generic, situation comedy set.
You enter, stage left through the front door…
Center stage is the couch in the living room…
Exit stage right where the family typically spends most of their time chatting…
The living room has a large set of stairs that do not actually lead to anywhere.
This will not do anything to help with your loneliness, however your home will have certain flow to it’s layout and aesthetic.
5) You suffer from a mid-life crisis, about 5 years working with an advertising agency. You were making an above average median income to come up with slogans for toy manufacturers. Yet, due to your lack of fulfillment with the job, you abruptly quit by telling your boss, Mr.Russo, to “take the job and shove it!”
Led by pure emotion, you decide to pursue a long neglected dream of running a 1950’s style diner that primarily caters to junior high and high school children. But, once you start to think clearly and finally realize what you have done, it seems obvious to you that teenagers don’t have any income to spend at this proposed establishment you have pinned your financial and emotional hopes on.
So you decide you to go back to Mr.Russo and beg for your job back. However, your imaginary television family won’t let you give up on your dreams and encourages you to stick with the restaurant idea. They assure you that together as a family, you all can tackle any obstacles that come from this impulsive and selfish decision of yours.
This will help you alleviate the feeling of isolation, and having to deal with difficult situations on your own. Knowing other people are willing to support you, provide empathy, and you and caring while in your times of need will remind you of the benefit of re-engaging with others, because most times, you are stronger with others, than you are alone.
6) You begin to blur the lines of reality, as the original delusion of having a nearly perfect television family, morphs into the idea that you are an actor within a television show, about an ideal family. Your hear from your fake agent that audience feedback is poor, and you start to neglect personal hygiene as you obsess over weekly audience ratings and advertising revenues.
The imaginary head of the network pulls you aside with assurances that despite the poor viewership and low revenue generation of the show, the network will keep it going for at least 3 more seasons. This is due to the fact that your fictional television show can be written off for tax purposes, saving hundreds of million dollars on a corporate level. This imagined, good news allows you to address your real world bout with anxiety, stress, and sleep issues.
7) Every year for May sweeps, you invite the Harlem Globetrotters to your house. The imaginary storyline is for them to help you compete in a basketball tournament, of which the grand prize will help fund the hip replacement surgery for your television grandmother. This made up scenario prepares you to engage in activities that involve other people. In this case, engaging in sports and charitable work, which will likely have positive effects on your mood and mental health. It will all culminate in the last play of the game, where you are fouled by your opponent just before the final buzzer goes off. You head to the free throw line, to tie, then win the game. Now, you are truly accepted, and valued…In this imaginary television world.
8) You go to a bus station to hand out tickets for transients and travelers alike to be part of your “studio audience”. They come to your home and sit in your foyer, as you go about your evening doing stuff around your apartment. This act will prime you to be assertive in going out of your way to meet new, and perhaps scary people that in real life, may potentially steal your possessions, if you were to allow them into your home. But that’s okay! This is a harmless mental exercise, where you delve deep into your imagination, to obscure the line dividing fantasy and reality.
9) Pretending to be “on set”, at the local department store, with some of your television, family members. You laugh hysterically for no reason throughout the visit, until the Manager and store security confront you. You explain to them that you are having trouble “getting through your lines.” Then demand from the store manager that you get the security footage, so you can use it as a gag reel for your show’s, limited release box set. This practice, allows you to take baby steps to physically be in a public place, and to also work through potential conflicts with others, when you decide it’s time to get out in the real world and piss off strangers that are just trying to do their job. One of the hallmarks of discourteous people with a strong social network.
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***The contents of this website is satirical, meant to be entertainment. Contact a professional for any advise.***
