# Mental health: How do YOU deal with loneliness on the road?



## Unslap

Being alone = independence, but are you personally able to be happy while on the road by yourself for long periods of time? How do you deal with being alone?
Don't forget stupid things like having a stuffed animal


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## flashinglights

I deal by tuning into the universe... it helps that I normally recharge my batteries while alone, so to speak. Social butterflies may wish to travel with friends.

Also, I never feel alone with animals and birds everywhere... try talking to them, you'd be surprised.


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## foxtailV

What's that paddymelt quote from? Sounds like a movie? Dude a paper smock? Dead of winter? Haaahaaa. That's loco shit... I gotta love it. If it wasn't loco they wouldn't be in the crazy house... 1that flew over the coocoo's nest? I have had stuffed animals. I love having a real one though. Survived a long time by myself and its hard but there are pros u can travel faster and hide easier. My stuffed animal is always barking at the brakemen. Its thanx to a dog that I am free.. so its a universal balancing act. Birds are great wish they had 4 legged ones a griffen nice pets but very mischievous like telling me to check locks when the cops are coming around the corner. Never trust a fairyTail character. Singing helps alot. Ultimatlly we need some kind of connection to another world so we aren't isolated in our minds.


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## blackswan

And the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
So in her I do confide
And she keeps me satisfied
Gives me all I need


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## Hatta

I always have a fantasy book on me, talking to the trees, singing songs and a good ol' 40. I wish I could get a dog but the 40s tend to be a prerequisite to overnights in jail. I figure I still have some calming down to do.


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## 1544c

reading, screaming lyrics to shitty songs, drawing, smoking, sleeping, sacrificing insects to aggressive ant colonies, throwing rocks at something
yeah there's always drinking too


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## LeeevinKansas

I crave loneliness like a mad man. im sick of the voices... the voices.. everywhere... traffic, people, cars, stoplights, buildings, workers, people, problems, drama, life, its everywhere....but they get to you. women stealin my souls, dying inside, life changing experiences.....gotta get away. fuck being lonely. i love it. mmm freedom, ecstasy. Just me and the blue sky....the long green rolling hills and yellow corn fields... goin down country roads into another time...another world. not seeing a soul for days, weeks on end. fuckin hell yea. fuck modern life. just be happy with my convictions and ways and take delight in everything., get high off life. even if it kills me. risk my life everyday doin crazy shit, just for the adrenaline and thrill ride i get off life. damn. ramblings of a man mad longing for solitude. give me my peace away from this damn screwed up world.


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## bryanpaul

as fun as those moments singing and shouting poetry and talkin to yourself are, it sucks being lonely... and out on the road you dont really get to develop strong bonds..you meet up with people, hang out for a lil bit and go your separate ways, i've found myself babbling incessently at gas station attendents just cuz it's a human to interact with....... on the flipside if you got a roaddog or romantic interest, if you dont find some time apart...things can get bad......i spent like over two years basically only interacting with one other person all day every day (besides the occasional travelin folks)..... that aint healthy...... but yeah i've heard if a baby isnt held by a human, after a while it will die...... social creatures.... loneliness sux.........


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## Vonuist

I've spent years without human company, but I'd go out of my fucking mind if I didn't have a dog.
Even though I don't spend much time with people I still don't want to be completely alone in the wild and all of us, no matter how fucked up we are, need some love somewhere in our lives.


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## Menyun

I rarely get lonely. I acknowledge that the way I feel is just in my head a chemical inbalance or whatever and choose to not let circumstances dictate how I feel. I tend to talk to myself and keep myself company or just start singing whatever comes in my head. It does get weird though if your thinking of jokes and you make yourself laugh... thats normally when I stop from fear of developing some kind of mental disorder. (doesn't always work though... while being sad or lonely seems to be realitivly easy to fight off; anger is alot harder to control... for me anyways)


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## kyle

I'm with flashinglights. I'm never alone with nature as company. Sometimes I feel like just another animal in the woods


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## 1544c

did anyone mention masturbation yet?


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## Kim Chee

Great thread. I've been alone for extended periods. In jail I often end up in isolation (not because I'm a bad boy, just their way).
I have a shitload of memories in my head I can reflect upon. I can fast. I can ignore every single human that comes my way.
I can breathe clean air and exhale garbage. Let it out. Breathe. Meditate. I am happy this way. I did this for a few years until
I finally broke down and purchased a radio. I've become to rely on the radio and I've been weaning myself off of it the last few
months. Great time to heal and grow. I love my alone-time, but yes a little company would be nice every now and then.


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## Vonuist

1544c said:


> did anyone mention masturbation yet?


I find that masturbation requires far too much optimism.


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## Donnie

We are a social species. Strange things happen to the mind when you go to long without social interaction.

It, like everything, is about finding the right balance. We need to relate to other people/beings, but we also need personal time to process and digest the things.

Although, some people are fine with limited interaction, while others need more.

zombiechase123


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## Earth

I find being being with people to almost always be a problem.

Everything becomes a compromise, all this bullshit of doing things together as opposed to what you really want to be doing...
(my ex would be proud of me for saying that)

This is exactly one of the main reasons I suddenly got back into kayaking after a 25 year break.

I can do it alone, and find great comfort in being alone - be it in a marsh, on a tidal river, doing white water (have a backpack boat for the white water stuff so I hike in and kayak out) - or even out in the middle of the Long Island Sound at the Middle Grounds / Stratford Shoal Light
(now that's a place worth Googling......)

Ican't for the life of me wonder why nomads want friends.
Those living on the river banks here avoid all contact with humans, because it ruins what they are about.

People will always let you down in the end.
Nature on the other hand, never will..........................................


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## HUMANCONTRAST

I usually always travel alone, it's actually gotten to the point where I don't like traveling with other people cos I like catching out my way and don't wanna hear peoples opinions or sit at the spot they claim is the spot and watch trains pass for days when I already know the spot and they wont listen. Never really lonley but my dog helps. And if I do get lonley, narcotics!


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## HUMANCONTRAST

, i've found myself babbling incessently at gas station attendents just cuz it's a human to interact with.......


I do that to, I actually was at a truck stop once somewhere in the midwest and had some personal problems and babbled on to the attendant about what I should do. They gave me some decent advice haha.


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## Rolling Blackouts

Indeed - we are inherently social creatures, but the benefits of riding alone are blatant enough - rapid mobility and practicing radical self-reliance.
I do my best to avoid 95% of people I run across on the road - typically, they are lousy conversation or just straight trouble.
That being said, unless you're are a particularly introverted individual capable of solitary psychological survival, it gets rough being alone. 
No matter where you are, the road is an isolating place. I've found its best to practice something; a game, sport, meditation, an instrument, whatever. Something to focus your energy.
And nothing warms the soul like screaming lyrics on the side of the road.


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## river dog

i like to smoke lots of grass when i'm riding. i think the sound of the wheels of a train are very hypnotic and can lead to very manageable trippyness. i guess that doesnt do shit for lonliness but its a coping tool in that scenario. as far as being out and about in a foreign city, booze helps. my banjo helps alot too. walking around in the woods is good.


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## marc

has anyone mentioned couchsurfing.com? you get people to talk to and a place to stay. i knew this one kid who only hitchhiked but every destination he went to he had numerous people on couchsurfing.com he would meet up with so he always had people to chill with and never had to sleep outside and if your lucky they get you drunk and stoned.


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## HUMANCONTRAST

I do my best to avoid 95% of people I run across on the road - typically, they are lousy conversation or just straight trouble.

So do I! I purposely avoid running into other travelers on the road. Usually only hang out/travel with others I already know. I mean i've only been on the road for 2 years so I know I'm still a newer kid. But damn do alot of the newer kids annoy me. Always yelling and screaming, blowing up towns and being obnoxiously drunk, acting like they know everything when waiting to catch out when they in reality don't know anything at all.. And refuse to listen when your trying to teach them or tell them something. Has happened to me when I brought a few kids on the road. Only 2, One of them ended up taking a plane home in Florida when we separated to get down to Orlando... I ended up getting housed up by these rainbow folk... went online to message him since I had no phone and he was a rich kid and had an Iphone. Kinda cool that he was loaded... Always got westies so he got me a new sleeping bag, bought me drugs and cigarettes. But he took a plane home..... fucking pussy. He later told me he thought I was ditching him... I feel kinda bad but I'd rather speprate from someone then walk the highway another mile (we'd already walked about 5 and it was August and fucking hot. but whatever.


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## TheLoneRat

"I do my best to avoid 95% of people I run across on the road - typically, they are lousy conversation or just straight trouble."
yeahhh, I've met a handful of awesome travelers and about four spacebags full of dumbass scummy idiots.


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## HUMANCONTRAST

I traveled with this one kid for about two weeks who every time we rolled into a city would right away go searching high and low for other train kids. I just stayed back by the catch out and spange in the area. I mean I have met some pretty alright taavlers while hanging out in cities, but alot of them I just end up not liking/being annoyed. Maybe it's from being alone so much.


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## TheLoneRat

yep. I mean if they come up to me, well I guess that's cool, depending...however, if I score a massive bag of dumpstered pastries and shit, I'll totally offer most of my findings to kids I find.


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## HUMANCONTRAST

Yea same here, that's usually when I talk to them. The kid I was just talking about used to yell OI!!! When he was 4 blocks away. And shout it till they looked back. Lmao sometimes they'd speed up. But yea, he is a perfect example of the people I had traveling with. Same here, or if I get kicked down a bunch of food I always stop and give them some, or if I have entirely too much dog food I'll give them a bag, another reason I had newer kids, so ungrateful! I've had some kids yell at me and call me an oogle for offering them... Or they yell at people and say fuck you if they don't kick down. You never known, maybe that person was going to go to the ATM come back and give us a 20 or two. I seriously don't understand how some travelers got the idea that people owe us something.


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## TheLoneRat

Those are the ones I would consider "oogles" though I generally hate the term. It usually pretty easy to pick out the cooler kids out of a bunch. I was so glad to meet a couple kids in Chicago who were awesome. One of which I got her number and later travelled with. Helluvan awesome time. I've never met someone I could open up to so quickly.


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## HUMANCONTRAST

Yea same here! I was having a good time in Chicago this summer, Until forty kids showed up all at once out of no where, so i moved over to the gay neighborhood hung out for a few days then caught out of the Barr yd to Nashville.


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## TheLoneRat

Ha cool, yeah boystown is pretty god busking from what I've heard. Did you by Anychance run into a couple kids while you were in the barr yard going to either buffalo or new york?


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## wildboy860

I read, observe the city or nature around me, talk to myself, jerk off, work on myself inside and out, practice music. and lots of other stuff. i tend to travelk alone less than half the time. i prefer a small group or atleast one other but it doesnt always work out.


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## RnJ

I deal with loneliness on the road by not traveling for too long, or meeting up with like-minded folks whenever possible -- depending on what i need, that may be trying to find other travelers, some spiritual support, people with whom I can have a certain type of conversations, people who share a similar music taste. But honestly, it can be hard just to track these sorts of things down and walk in and feel accepted. So then I just go back to where my family and most of my friends are.


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## Alaska

Writing music is number one for me, but sometimes the inspiration just doesn't come. I try and travel with at least 3 books, one of them being a reference book just so I can do some on the spot research. Chillin in a well with a single forty and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater was one of my more memorable solo rides. I was just laughing my ass off by the time it stopped in Pocatello. Probably looked half fucking crazy.

I try and draw when I can. I'm by no means a talented sketch artist, but I do what I can. I just eat them afterwards so no one will ever see 'em again. Of course.

I also play Pokemon. Good stuff.


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## RVLG

I read, write, and compose music of whatever genre I feel like at the moment. I like to sit down with my legs in an O shape and imagine a miniature world of magic and mystery in whatever ground happens to lie in the middle. I find it very useful for treating writer's block. I also like lying down in a healthy forest and meditating on all the life around me and the infinite number of cycles each tree, bird, and insect contains and is a part of.

I don't really like traveling alone for too long. I prefer meeting fellow travelers along the way, exchanging tales of our homelands, ancestors, and our own adventures. One learns stories from all over the world this way.


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## Sonny

I think its a lot easier dealing with being alone on the road than being alone at home. One of the bigger reasons I wanna get out there, being by myself never has bothered me, except when im surrounded by familar faces.


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## Alaska

Sonny said:


> I think its a lot easier dealing with being alone on the road than being alone at home. One of the bigger reasons I wanna get out there, being by myself never has bothered me, except when im surrounded by familar faces.



Very true. I would choose a open relationship with the world over a monogamous situation with my left hand any day.


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## HUMANCONTRAST

Ha cool, yeah boystown is pretty god busking from what I've heard. Did you by Anychance run into a couple kids while you were in the barr yard going to either buffalo or new york?

I wouldn't know about busking. Ugh, there were these old tymy kids in wicker park and me and this kid Matty went up to them to see if they wanted to combine forces and they started yelling at us and calling us peices of shit because we didn't busk and told us they'd appreciate it if wed stop spanging on the same street they were busking... Ugh. There's really only one street to spange on in Wicker Park.

But no It was only me and my home girl Saphira and we caught out within an hour of sitting there. But I ran into a bunch of kids in Buffalo, who are you talking about in particular?


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## TheLoneRat

my friend alicia, she traveled with a couple kids, henry and claire.


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## scales

aim down for traveling with someone !! whose down to go traveling?


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## outskirts

It does not really bother me much except when sleeping in sketchy or unfamiliar places, where it's a safety issue. 
But then again my trips are often rather short ones and I'm often striking up conversation with strangers.
I mostly hitchhike, take a bus or train(when I have money), or drive(when I do have a car)...
So I don't know, maybe it's different with train hopping, I wouldn't know, I have yet to hop a train.
I've seen plenty of people on here mention books, practicing music or writing. All excellent ways to pass
the time and improve your knowledge, skills or insight.
I don't know... we're all wired a little differently when it comes to human interaction.


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## Xavierr

sometimes a break from everyone and traveling alone feels good for me. things are less stressful, you get to look out for yourself and do things your way without dispute. then it can get to your head a bit, or mine. thats when i read a book. playing music is always good. or listenining to music


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## Kabukimono

I try not to fight loneliness, I embrace it. Sure; there are always moments when you would love a conversation, specially after you have spent a long time isolated _but_ as good conversation is generally hard to find (specially from the saddle). I tend to dig in deep which keeps my mental sanity in check and also ends up sorting out shit I have in my head. 
Also extended periods of isolation are wonderful in every aspect, with the added plus that when you do meet someone who has good conversation - it is so much sweeter as it's not an everyday thing, so you're heart and soul are completely put into it!


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## GetOutOf717

I love marijuana. Whenever I find myself going long distances on foot, I like to spark up some green. Makes walking a lot more enjoyable.
Busking. It's relaxing to get good spot in the city,mall,wherever i'm at, and sit down and play a couple songs on guitar. Can definitely make some loot in the right situation. I like to get up early on the weekdays and get some coffee, possibly smoke some grass, and just jam out. The weekends you can go to popular places with a lot of traffic and make a lot of money very quickly. 

Some lady gave me a 10 dollar bill the other day.
Ahh panhandling. gotta love it


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## CaseyJones757

Some pretty good stuff in there. Not all applies to some of yalls current situation but still some good stuff. Enjoy.


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## GetOutOf717

I like to sing to myself and play games I make up when Im walking down a long road...
Just stay positive! Enjoy each day.


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