The Loneliness Project
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The Loneliness Project is a passion project I created to collect, showcase, and archive peoples’ stories of loneliness. Anyone can submit their story (I have received over 1300) and new stories are shared on the site every week.
Loneliness is a thing we don’t talk about, but what this influx of stories has shown me is just how universal it is. It’s very human to experience loneliness at times but it doesn’t need to be as isolating as it is. Our stories have tremendous power, and in starting conversations about loneliness we can combat isolation and cultivate compassion – for others and for ourselves.
The Loneliness Project started small. With no proof of concept other than a Facebook post and a Google submission form, I started asking people for their stories. I had no idea what kind of a response – if any – I’d get, and was shocked to receive over 100 stories before the project was even live. They were coming in from all over the world, from people of all ages and all walks of life.
By this point, I was busy working on the website, laying out the pages, drawing the apartments and stores, writing the copy, and of course, reading the stories.
The site launched in October 2017, and the project started growing rapidly. The site had over 5,000 visitors in its first week. I’m proud to say The Loneliness Project has been covered by media including Buzzfeed, The Walrus, The Toronto Star, CBC, and more.
To date, the project the site has had over 30,000 visitors and has received 1200+ stories (and counting) from 60+ countries, from Canada to France to Syria to Thailand to New Zealand to the USA.
You can submit your own story here.
(P.S. There’s an easter egg somewhere on the site. Email me for a prize if you can find it.)
