How To Build Self-Worth and Alleviate Loneliness with Rituals

It all happened nearly 10 years ago. I had an “ah-ha” moment in my therapist's office that seemed at first contrived and ridiculous.

Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash

Since then, I have been applying this technique to my life and have found it has not only helped me mentally when I feel low with depression, but it’s also helped me immensely during the pandemic, alleviating loneliness and building my self-worth. What is it?

It’s the technique of creating meaning in the rituals of daily life.

It’s Not My Crow — Learning About Meaning

Ten years ago, my therapist taught me about meaning. (Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book — and some background for this article.)

“How’s Beth today?” The familiar greeting from my therapist usually spurred me into a downward spiral of crying and depressive talk. But today, we didn’t discuss my previous weeks' actions; instead, we discussed the negative talk of suicide, dread, loneliness, and death. (Don’t worry, I won’t go all macabre on you.)

I explained how we never talked about death growing up and how I never liked to watch movies that included death or suffering. I told her how I now felt like I wanted to die; there was no point in me being here and how God was the only one who…