1) Be angry and bitter
2) Be confused about what others think about them
3) Assume the worst
4) Have inflated self-images
5) Use faith for hyper-justification of isolation and their lack of cooperation with others
6) Escape into sin
7) Give themselves lots of wiggle room
8) Give others no grace
9) Not know how to break out from their isolation
10) Not take full, personal responsibility for their isolation
There are probably more things that could be added to this list. Isolation is rampant and devastating, but it is not incurable. The breakout cure for isolation is something I'll call "Relationship Responsibility" (RR). Someone who takes RR cuts off the self pity cycle essential for isolation. Self pity is like alcohol, so it can't just be eliminated, it has to be replaced. Other forms of responsibility can be used for this. It works to take responsibility for one's emotions, time-usage, mental activity, speaking, media-intake, diet, physical condition, or spiritual tone. All of these responsibilities have the potential of becoming healthy addictions. The key to everything healthy is to prevent blame fixing. This is the point of RR. As soon as you have someone to blame for how you feel, you are lost. The cross of Christ helps believers not only shift the blame for their sins to Christ, but also the blame for the sins of everyone else against them. It's a handy thing God does here. He makes it possible for us to live blameless lives, in every sense of the word blameless: not bearing our own blame and not assigning any blame to others. A blameless person is never alone and cannot be isolated.
