Having recently gone through the loss of my second parent, I can tell you that even though you are surrounded by loved ones and friends, you are at times overcome by a complete sense of “aloneness”. And it’s OK. The feeling will sneak up on you and be triggered by the smallest of things. You are caught up in a memory, and then reminded that you are in a sense an orphan even though you’re still married, have siblings, close friends, and extended family.

Today while catching up with the latest On Being podcast I bounced over to Vimeo to watch one of their latest animated shorts. It was on a topic that is reflective of what I wrote above – being alone. This wonderful short animated film by Leo G. Franchi was written and read by Pádraig Ó Tuama for The On Being Project. It brings up the topic and places it in front of the viewer delivering its message with a calmness that captures those feelings, that that are sometimes, more often than not associated with being alone – anxiety, quietness, distance, awkwardness – and lets you know that its OK. That you simply need to breathe. To be aware of yourself and know you are alive at this moment in a universe that is forever changing.