This one message changed the life of a lonely man
What if we used social media to let others know we're lonely or sad, instead of using it to share snapshots of our ''perfect" lives? One man found 10 000 friends and a new purpose in life!
One of the worst feelings in the world is loneliness and Patrick Cakirli did an unbelievably brave thing to combat this feeling.
He shared a post to social media explaining exactly how he felt.
“I am desperate to meet new friends. I’m lonely and going through the hardest period of my life. I’ll sit on the stairs in front of the town hall from 2 pm to 8 pm. I have black pants and a North Face bag on.”
From this message a surprising event occurred, 13 people showed up to support him and help rid him of the loneliness.
Five months later, in an effort to create awareness, he undertook a 10 day relay walk from Copenhagen to Aarhus (186,7km) and is currently planning a non-commercial 20,000 km walk from Denmark to China to raise awareness about loneliness and mental health.
After his initial meeting he decided to start a free peer to peer network in his home country of Denmark, where lonely people could find friends, and it's become massive! With 10 000 new friends, he never has to feel lonely again!
He has a great way of breaking that awkward ice with new members saying - “To help new members get settled, I would invite them into my home each week for dinner, parties or game nights. In January of 2017 I decided to take a student loan so that I could throw weekly dinner parties for free. I knew most of our members were students with limited means, so I wanted/needed to eliminate the financial aspect so that everyone could participate.”
Have you ever meet great friends through social media?