| Being alone is healthy, positive, pleasurable, and emotionally refreshing if it is under the person's control through circumstances or conscious choice, while loneliness does not require aloneness and is often experienced even in crowded places. It can be described as the absence of identification, understanding or compassion. To experience loneliness can manifest in feelings of abandonment, rejection, depression, insecurity, anxiety, hopelessness, unworthiness, meaninglessness, and resentment. In some people, temporary or prolonged loneliness can lead to notable artistic and creative expression like lonely poems. |