OPINION: Isolation comes with being only child
Picture this - you come home from practice and a full day of school. Your siblings greet you at the door. Your mom and dad are in the living room watching TV.
But that is just a pictured scenario, a scenario I play in my head at least once a week.
My reality is I arrive home, and it is dark and the stillness is overwhelming.
People say I’m “lucky” for this and being an only child, but I don’t see eye to eye with them. I don’t think I ever will.
I think they are the lucky ones for having a built-in friend, a supporter at your games, an annoyance at times, and someone to put the blame on. A sibling is something I will never experience or endure.
The one big thing about being an only child is that you are alone, and it can feel isolating at times. That can take a toll on your mental health. But that isolation can at times be good for your mental health, because it separates you from the chaos of life.
There are things that you can do to not feel so isolated while being an only child. You can go out for sport or hang out with friends or become involved in an activity to make that feeling of isolation feel smaller.
I am involved in FFA, Skills USA, football, track, basketball, one act and quiz bowl - just to avoid the feeling of isolation. Then again in football I played cornerback, which is ironic because a cornerback is known for being on an island all alone.
Playing with their brothers or sisters in sports is something I think people take for granted. They have someone to go one on one with in basketball, someone to compete with, someone to look up to, or someone to look up to you. It is also someone that can understand you in sports, life or experience context.
Being an only child is a mixture of isolation, separation, responsibility and freedom. That mixture shapes my life.
Maybe one day I will be grateful for this unique journey, and maybe I could help someone navigate through being an only child.
The main takeaway from being an only child is that you are isolated, but that is a choice. You can do lots of things to not be so isolated.
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