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Loneliness-

DphNew Contributor30 Jan 2021, 6:46 pm AEDT

Loneliness-

Can anyone suggest any good short term strategies for coping with loneliness. I'm a 59 year old gay male and I have found myself in a position in life where I have few close friends or much of a supportive family. This has crept up on me of the past 10 to 15 years, I've always been good at being alone but it seems I have taken it to extreme levels. I work and function as a popular person in the work place but on an intimate personal level I have shunned much interaction. Over the past month I meet a person and the connection seemed very intense on a physical and emotional level but this was abruptly stopped by the other person with no real reason given. This has made me feel rather pathetic ( they were much younger) but I think it has made realise how alone I am. I'm just having trouble getting through each day at the moment. I have a one or two people who I have talked too but I get the feeling they have heard me moan enough. I sailed through COVID lockdown easily but I think overall it has made much more aware of how little I have in my life.

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In response to: Loneliness-

MazaritaSenior Contributor30 Jan 2021, 11:14 pm AEDT

Re: Loneliness-

Hi @Dph and welcome to the forum. I am someone who these days only visits very occasionally. Tonight I found your post.

I am 58 and bisexual, these days celibate and in a companionship relationship with someone who used to be my lover in a straight relationship. We have been traveling life together for 17 years.

Loneliness is hard and I can totally understand how lockdown might make it seem worse. From what you said in your post, I sense there may have been something happen in the past that resulted in you withdrawing from close contact with people? It's good that you have a good work situation and feel popular and well liked there, so that at least your days are not spent completely alon.

I don't have any clear advice to give you about your feelings of loneliness now. But I suspect you may be suffering from not just loneliness, but also depression, since you are finding it hard to get through each day. Depression has been part of my bipolar since childhood. Finding the energy to get through days is very familiar to me indeed.

Do you have a GP or other support for this?

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