Becoming emotionally dependent on someone you pay for intimacy is an extremely precarious thing, not just for the client but also the seller.
Please do not give yourself or them the risk of being tempted by that.
Go to a community center instead, volunteer at an animal center, go to a soup kitchen, donate some clothes at a shelter.
All these places can give you a sense of belonging if you are seeking a genuine connection, don’t worry about being desperate, as long as you respect peoples boundaries it will get better with time.
You’re right that interactions are not hugs, but they create friendships with people with whom it is both socially acceptable and emotionally healthy to hug. If you don’t hug your friends, you’re missing out in life.
TBH, the sort of people who would get to the point of paying a stranger for a hug wouldn’t necessarily be the sort of people who would progress a social connection with a stranger to the point of hugging. Building up a relationship, platonic or otherwise, takes time and effort, and often the ones that best fill those roles in our lives are also those we don’t regularly meet in person.
They’re also important because physical touch is a need in and of itself. No matter what, in the end, we are still animals, with animalistic needs. You can’t just think or will yourself out of them
Becoming emotionally dependent on someone you pay for intimacy is an extremely precarious thing, not just for the client but also the seller.
Please do not give yourself or them the risk of being tempted by that.
Go to a community center instead, volunteer at an animal center, go to a soup kitchen, donate some clothes at a shelter.
All these places can give you a sense of belonging if you are seeking a genuine connection, don’t worry about being desperate, as long as you respect peoples boundaries it will get better with time.
Tbf that’s not a hug, and that doesn’t solve the issue of wanting a hug.
You’re right that interactions are not hugs, but they create friendships with people with whom it is both socially acceptable and emotionally healthy to hug. If you don’t hug your friends, you’re missing out in life.
TBH, the sort of people who would get to the point of paying a stranger for a hug wouldn’t necessarily be the sort of people who would progress a social connection with a stranger to the point of hugging. Building up a relationship, platonic or otherwise, takes time and effort, and often the ones that best fill those roles in our lives are also those we don’t regularly meet in person.
Hugs are important because of what they mean - care, support, belonging.
Paying someone to do it won’t solve it either. You can’t replace the work and time of building up trusting and caring relationships with money.
As OP said - work in a food shelter, talk to people, invest your time in them - and eventually it’ll work out, but not as payment.
They’re also important because physical touch is a need in and of itself. No matter what, in the end, we are still animals, with animalistic needs. You can’t just think or will yourself out of them