The problem with long term isolation is you become insane and weird and unpalatable and unrelatable and it's seemingly impossible to ever forge meaningful connections with people ever again
This is absolutely true, and I want it to be specially noted from this post that it feels "seemingly impossible" but, it's not completely impossible, and I'm living proof of that. I have been someone who had in one point in my life, experienced years of isolation to the point it even rewired my brain to lose the ability to recognize what someone reaching out to hug you looked like. During the pandemic, my brother had cancer and my parents in their desire to be there for him, completely neglected me altogether. During those years, my parents were like a shadow in my life. They would appear every now and then to stock the fridge and pantry with food, get fresh clothes for themselves, and left, very rarely ever saying goodbye to me. Once everything got better, my brother getting a bone marrow transplant and pandemic regulations starting to become lighter with time, I was finally able to come back into the world but, those years of isolation made connecting with people seemingly impossible. I no longer knew how to. Nor did I feel like I was someone worth the effort to.
Often we're told the phrase, "no one is coming to save you." and for the most part, that is true but sometimes, in life, there are people who do save us. For me, it was my brazilian jiu-jitsu professor who would walk towards me after every group paired up to practice together as I stood on the mat unmoving, shoulders scrunched up, and hands clinging tightly to one another. He would approach me with kindness and helped guide me to a group that would let me in. It was the classmates that did. It was the people in that course, mentor and students alike, who made me feel like I wasn't a burden. Who talked to me. Who made me feel like I belonged. While yes, we do have the responsibility to save ourselves, sometimes the thing that saves us, that helps pull us out of isolation and connects us back to the world, is the kindness from others. I am proof that you can be isolated for years, completely lose the ability to connect with others, lose your self-worth in those years of isolation, but still be able to find your way back wether it be by your will, or others. You won't be alone forever.
