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[Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/search/lonely%20/)
Isn't it strange? To stand shoulder to shoulder with others and feel like no one sees you. The room buzzes with laughter, clinking glasses, and overlapping voices, but none of it affects you. You're present, but not truly a part of it. You blend in, perhaps even smile, nod at familiar people, and speak in short sentences, but inside you feel empty. A room full of people feels like a silent void to your soul.
There's a loneliness that creeps in when your name is pronounced, but your heart is not heard. When people ask you how you are, you sometimes lie because the truth feels too heavy for small talk. Laugh just enough to suit the circumstance, but not so much that you feel joyful. You scroll through your phone to keep your hands busy, so no one sees you standing there, unspoken to, and unnoticed.
How do they connect? How they belong. Maybe it's you. Perhaps it's the timing. Perhaps it's simply one of those days when you're out of sync with the world around you.
Sometimes it's more about disconnection than isolation. You might be surrounded by individuals who know your name but not your tale. Who remembers your face but forgets your feelings? And in those moments, it feels lonelier than any vacant room ever could.
You seek understanding rather than attention. Not absence, but presence. And you wonder, as you pass through the crowd like a phantom in skin, whether anyone else feels the same... or are you really alone in this ocean of strangers.