Do you ever feel lonely even amongst family and friends?

@Tjc1970 Hello Tjc1970, thank you for opening this discussion and sharing what you're going through. I think you may not be alone in feeling this way. Let me tag some other members who can maybe share their thoughts with you.

Hi everyone, how have you been? Have you ever felt alone amongst friends and family or like no one really understands you? What did you do to feel better?
@VivienPiercey‍ @Jojobetty‍ @Boos20‍ @BrianB‍ @Demonsophia‍ @Heebygb‍ @Mj1108‍ @Williamps‍ @Johnpaul35‍ @Isy2210‍ @anne1710‍ @Herbs70‍ @Tammythompson‍ @BarbaraW‍ @paula49‍ @Carolan‍ @Dejessvince‍ @Hamletsh‍ 

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences here!

Take care,
Courtney

@Tjc1970‍  I know exactly how you feel , I can be in a room full of people and still feel alone ... it's the nature of this illness I think . 

I understand how you feel my only close family is my mom who is in residental home twenty miles away. She put her self in a home when she found her husband in his car. I myself had a head injury five years ago which causes memory problems and mood swings. Take every day as it comes. 

Good morning, not feeling to bad today. Sometimes my mood goes from up to down in a matter of hours. The second lock down here should get better once I get to January. I have been twice in hospital before Christmas. Not this year try to keep myself busy. Got up at 3 this morning. Got told yesterday no surgery appointments. Bye bye will

 Yes I can feel lonely with friends and family. I joined in commenting on my uncles vid supporting him doing a charity swim every day in the sea others joked how crazy it is to swim in the sea all yr round without a wetsuit, and I joined in. I got a message the next day having a go at me and saying that I don't do enough to get better from my health problems and that I know what I need to do to get better. His comments were nothing to do with me joining in the joke, he didn't get mad with anyone else for joking around, but he snapped at me and had a massive rant at me, basically saying a whole lot of unhelpful terrible things to say with someone with depression, anxiety, other longterm illnesses, that I have being working on my entire life, I have worked so hard on my health, tried many things, diets, meds, and have worked out what works best for me and what doesn't. He judges me as I don't earn enough, I run my own business and I can only charge what people are willing to pay and within local prices. I have two online stores but haven't had much luck getting enough sales. His daughter is paid better and can afford things I can't like being able to drive, she has just got her 1st rental flat. My earnings are so unpredictable until I can get enough sales then I'll earn much more than her, and it will be more regular so I will then be able to get my own place too. She doesn't have the daily struggles that I have to deal with to get through the day and I work so hard to stay healthy. I'm eating healthy, working out, working hard. If he is in a bad mood suddenly then he will have a snarky comment about me which and he attacks my character because he doesn't understand what it is like to have a longterm illness and for people to constantly judge me and it breaks down my self esteem, I have to constantly rebuild it. He pushes me to breaking point and wonders why I get upset. I told him I'm it's not fair to treat me that way and to treat me unfairly, he got mad that I stood up for myself and wouldn't stand for being treated badly and told him that it hurt me, he didn't care or say sorry. He said stop playing the victim. If someone is going to have a go at me and treat me badly I'm not going to let them walk all over me. I have been bullied most of my life, I have had enough of being treated badly. He doesn't have any understanding or empathy or treat me with respect. I respect him and others. It treat him and others with kindness I deserve to be treated with kindness too. I looked after his daughters months ago for a long weekend, it was great until my cousin gave me unsolicited advice which I didn't need, as I have learned what works for me. She got mad at me that I was not taking her advice as I have tried it before and it didn't work for me, I have food intollerances and she was saying certain things that I couldn't eat as they make me ill. Her sister joined in having a go at me and at the end of the stay it ended in an argument which I was trying to avoid. I apologised to them but they didn't apologise to me or care that they had pushed me over my limit as I was struggling with the lockdown, and I had just got better and got healthier again. Then they put me back in a bad place and made me struggle again. She drove me home and and insulted me before I got home and demanded that I apologise to my younger cousin again which I already apologised to. So I did. So her dad is mad at me, Two of the cousins act like they know everything, and if I know something that they don't they ignore me and continue to do something wrong that will damage the cupboards, by putting wet things in them without drying them. My dad is a carpenter and tells me what causes damage to wood, and I have seen in some houses where people have done that and it has damaged the wood and made it mouldy. They wouldn't listen. The oldest cousin used to chat in email with me but hasn't spoken with me in months. Now we have to spend Xmas with them and I'm dreading it. I will be friendly and polite, but I know they will snap at me at somepoint even though I apologised and they didn't. My aunt said I'm welcome ad that she said I fell out with them, it was the other way round, not me. They had a go at me. Why should I have to take advice that didn't work for me, or take criticism an judgement and not be respected, why should I have to put up with that? I treat them with kindness, empathy and understanding if they are going through something, why not do the same to me? They are fine and carry on, but now I have anxiety and panic attacks about seeing them. I'm feeling stressed about the lockdown as I'm able to work but most of my bookings are cancelled. Before the 2nd lockdown I had a bit of work and that cancelled out my benefits to almost nothing, in the month, when everything was cancelled, I had £22 to live on for a month and had to use a foodbank. I was on benefits so I wouldn't need to do that, but it caused me stress as I had to ask to borrow money and struggle through the month and the and of last month. The benefit payment was not enough for week let alone a month and it didn't cover my direct debits, which I had reduced to that bare minimum. I'm juggling 3 businesses, working online, searching for work, trying to do courses, applying for work, trying to keep my main business going so I will have more customers to come back to when things are normal, to add to my regular customers. As It's going to be yrs before I can save enough to go on holiday or buy a car and have lessons again, i have waited 13yrs for a holiday to save enough, last yr was tough as some customers moved away so even though I have got more customers every yr, my savings had to be used for food. 

I just feel like I’m the only one that’s ever on their own. I’m not sure if my family and some of my friends really know how I’m feeling, as I try to put on a big smiling front that’s fools most people. The current situation is making it a lot worse as well, as we can’t get out with friends or meet new people, so hopefully I will feel back to my old self when the restrictions are lifted. Good luck to everyone else 👍

I often feel like I'm on the edge of everything, i dont know what to say most of the time. Think it comes from being an only child, I use to get lots of games as presents but had no one to play with. I was also bullied at school so i ended up hating school and glad to leave. I've only done one job I  enjoyed and that was being a carer in a nursing home but even there because i did not have any qualifications I was again on the edge of things.

Hope I've managed to explain things ok.

Hello 

When I lived in my original home town in the north east, as a single person, I have always felt lonely even though family and best friend are close by. They have their own lives and are busy. I would visit my mother and stepfather once a week. My dad passed away in 2013 and stepmother in 2006. I had 1 sister, 6 years older than me, who wasn't very close to me. She moved to the south and never kept in touch. I only had a couple of emails and one private message on Facebook from her. Sadly she passed away in 2018. 

Since moving to the south in 2019, to live with my partner in his home, I've not had chance to make my own new friends and I only know his friends. My partner was hospitalised last year then went into rehabilitation for 16 weeks. I felt so lonely at home but was glad he was communicating via texts. Now he has been hospitalised again but this time his recovery wasn't good. He's not too bad now but hasn't communicated with me since the day before his operation. I've never felt lonelier than before. I do get texts from my mother and best friend but I really want a close friend here in the South. I know I'll have to find a way and will hopefully be able to meet once this lockdown is over. I dislike being on my own for too long.

I'm deaf as well and deafies do suffer a lot with loneliness and depression. 

this lockdown does not help being isolated