publish loneliness-and-solitude

publish article about loneliness and solitude. I think this is useful
to put here because while it's not specifically trans related it's
actually something I think many trans people might struggle with;
especially when life decices to take a sharp left

5 files changed, 115 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/entries/loneliness-and-solitude.html b/entries/loneliness-and-solitude.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58d1849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/entries/loneliness-and-solitude.html
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+<article>
+<header>
+<h2>Loneliness and Solitude</h2>
+</header>
+<p>
+Struggling in the quiet moments is something I've been working on with my therapist for quite a while. This has been a problem my whole life: I get home, it's quite and dark, and I'm all alone. My friends are busy, I have no one really to talk to, so now what?
+</p>
+<p>
+Well, I would get sad. I might try and throw on a video or something to occupy my time; but more often than not I have a short queue and I ended up done in 30 minutes to an hour and we're back to square one. So then I'd either just get really depressed and let the suicidal ideation creep in or just dig and dig at YouTube re-watching videos, start to dig through some creators back catalog, or something, anything, to not have to be alone with my thoughts.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was a big struggle in my last relationship. She would be in her office, I'd be in mine, the loneliness and sadness would creep in and I'd runaway into the internet as far as I could, for as long as I could, to avoid dealing with what was really going on: the trans stuff, and then the dissatisfaction with my life/relationship/everything.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then again after that break-up. I threw out my safety net. I boxed myself up in a new town, new apartment, new everything. I let myself get lost in my new relationships, again to avoid that loneliness, but when distance crept in, be it from just normal distance in an long distance relationship (LDR), them just getting busy in their life, or really any reason… I kinda was in a place where I craved some form of contact from anyone in my life. This caused tension in my relationships because I couldn't just be okay with myself.
+</p>
+<p>
+We finally cracked exactly what was going on (or at least my therapist finally got through my thick skull) this most recent session when she literally said to me "I'm avoiding my loneliness". 
+</p>
+<p>
+We'd known I had to be content in my solitude (a kinder way to say "loneliness"). I struggle being content at all frankly. Being content is tricky because when you first hear it you think "yeah I want to be happy in those hard moments, happy when I'm alone, happy" etc. We conflate content with happy. But content is what lies between happy and sad. It's not happy. Happiness is rare. It's worth celebrating. But I struggle when I'm not happy just being okay with my position. I get sad. I start to spoil the moments, waste that happiness I was just feeling.
+</p>
+<p>
+Being content requires you to not overthink things. To get out of your head. Even when I should be happy, like when I'm visiting a partner for a week, I struggle to be content because I want so much for me. I want to be happy, all the time. I want things to continuously get better. It's almost like my brain's secretly a big tech company expecting growth day after day, numbers go up, etc etc. I know better though. I do. I just really struggle actualizing that knowledge.
+</p>
+<p>
+When I find myself, like today, alone, my mind drifts to those happy memories. All of those moments when, where, I was happiest and I crave it. But there simply are days where that specific happiness isn't achievable; for whatever reason. But there is still so much more I can do.
+</p>
+<pre>
+In solitude
+I can do anything
+I can just be me
+And that's okay
+
+In solitude
+is where I learn
+how I grow
+why I'm me
+
+I spent so long in solitude
+I keep looking back at when
+I fear returning there
+Focusing in the wrong direction
+
+In solitude
+you need to look forward
+you need to understand
+now is not always
+
+I'm not always
+Life's not always
+It won't be always
+In solitude
+</pre>
+<footer>
+  <p>
+    Permalink:
+    <a href="/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html">
+      https://thewomaninmyeye.org/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html
+    </a>
+  </p>
+</footer>
diff --git a/make.sh b/make.sh
index 4e00868..cfa84fb 100755
--- a/make.sh
+++ b/make.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ set -x
 ./render.sh pages/blog/all-signs-point-to-her.html www/blog/all-signs-point-to-her.html
 ./render.sh pages/blog/finding-a-safe-space.html www/blog/finding-a-safe-space.html
 ./render.sh pages/blog/it-was-never-about-clothes.html www/blog/it-was-never-about-clothes.html
+./render.sh pages/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html www/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html
 
 # copy static files
 cp -r static/* www
@@ -49,3 +50,7 @@ echo "=> /log/all-signs-point-to-her.gmi 2023-06-27 - All signs point to her" \
 ./gemparse.py entries/about-her.html gemini/log/who-is-the-woman-in-my-eye.gmi about-her.html
 echo "=> /log/who-is-the-woman-in-my-eye.gmi 2023-06-25 - Who is the woman in my eye" \
      >> gemini/log/index.gmi
+
+./gemparse.py entries/loneliness-and-solitude.html gemini/log/loneliness-and-solitude.gmi blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html
+echo "=> /log/loneliness-and-solitude.gmi 2024-04-07 - Loneliness and Solitude" \
+     >> gemini/log/index.gmi
diff --git a/pages/blog.html b/pages/blog.html
index 225274c..a60fd6b 100644
--- a/pages/blog.html
+++ b/pages/blog.html
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@
 	    - It was never about clothes
 	  </a>
 	</li>
+	<li>
+	  <a href="/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html">
+	    <time datetime="2024-04-07">2024-04-07</time>
+	    - Loneliness and Solitude
+	  </a>
+	</li>
 	<!-- NEXT -->
     </article>
   </main>
diff --git a/pages/blog/feed.rss b/pages/blog/feed.rss
index 4764388..75be9cb 100644
--- a/pages/blog/feed.rss
+++ b/pages/blog/feed.rss
@@ -36,5 +36,13 @@
 	{it-was-never-about-clothes}
       </description>
     </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>It was never about clothes</title>      <link>https://thewomaninmyeye.org/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html</link>
+      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://thewomaninmyeye.org/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html</guid>
+      <pubDate>Sun, 07 Apr 2024 12:50:16 -0400</pubDate>
+      <description>
+	{loneliness-and-solitude}
+      </description>
+    </item>
   </channel>
 </rss>
diff --git a/pages/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html b/pages/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c20f2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pages/blog/loneliness-and-solitude.html
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+  <head>
+  <title>The Woman in my Eye</title>
+  {head-common}
+  <meta name="description"
+	content="A blog entry titled Lonliness and Solitude. I remark on my struggles in loneliness and why I need to work on being content in solitude, in order to save my future, to stave off the negative thoughts, to try and be happy when I can.">
+</head>
+<body>
+  <header>
+    <h1>Do you get lonely, the Woman in my Eye?</h1>
+  </header>
+  <nav title="site menu">
+    <ul>
+      <li>
+	<a href='/'>home</a>
+      </li>
+      <li>
+	<a href='/resources'>resources</a>
+      </li>
+      <li>
+	<a href='/about'>about</a>
+      </li>
+      <li>
+	<a href='/blog'>blog</a>
+      </li>
+    </ul>
+  </nav>
+  <main>
+    {loneliness-and-solitude}
+  </main>
+  {footer}
+</body>
+</html>