I remember living alone. I remember the good and the bad. I did enjoy coming home from work and sprawling out inevitably only moving to answer the door for a food delivery. Something that bugged some of my female work colleagues so much that they insisted on taking me shopping one night threatening to make a monthly date. I remember drinking too much. I drank at home as I was alone with no other half and no friends as they all lived elsewhere. I would frequent the pub over the road for company and solace. It wasn't a healthy existence and couldn't go on indefinitely. It didn't.
I've never coped well alone since but have rarely had to. In lockdown that has not been a problem of course but because of that I tend to forget just how hard it is for others. It wasn't until I heard a lady on the radio saying how hard she was finding things mentally as she worked from home, lived alone and had very little human interaction. She is not alone. I do think this is heading toward a mental health time bomb to come.
I mention it because I also forget how hard its been for my father in law. Last January he lost his wife and while still in shock from that was suddenly alone in lockdown. As great as technology is he struggles with it so there were no zoom calls or the like. That can't have been easy. To make matters worse we found out at the weekend he'd had a stroke and was now in hospital where he will be for some time to come. Although he is struggling with speech which is frustrating him it seems to have been a mild stroke which hopefully will be isolated as he is now on a course of blood thinning drugs to try to prevent a follow on. You can't really call it a positive because there is none with a stroke but there is some comfort knowing he is not alone like so many others are at the moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment