If there’s one phrase that has echoed in the back of my mind, it’s that I have no family, and by that I mean no children or spouse - and I’m middle aged.
I have relatives of course, sisters, nieces, nephews and a grandma. Both my parents died some years ago, so there’s no going home to them. My sister’s are so busy with their lives, and one actively ignores me, largely because she’s dealing with her own issues.
I’m not going to grandma’s, because my crazy creationist cunt of an aunt will probably call me a communist atheist while she parrots Isreali propaganda. I’d rather be alone than face that, which is sad AF since grandma is selling the family house and this will be the last year we can spend Christmas there.
Add to that the fact I never really had a full relationship because I focused all my time developing skills, something that used to bring me joy and the promise of success, but now I sort of hate what I do and haven’t been able to reach success. I’ve all but abandoned my dream and am deeply insecure about my future. In effect I have worked long and hard with nothing to show for it.
I have no feeling of belonging with my own countrymen even, and the foreigners are so self conscious that you instantly get pegged as “one of them”, “the other”, as they treat you as an inferior because they them selves have been made to feel inferior and feel the need to cope via toxicity. Can’t turn around without being slapped with some social pressure or putdown. I don’t feel like dealing with anyone.
This will be the second Christmas I spend alone and I don’t really feel like reaching out. I feel like a burden, like someone who has to be catered to, facilitated, tolerated. My only want is an escape. Whether that means leaving the country, joining a cult, moving out into a cave, I don’t know.
I just don’t know how to deal. I can’t really relate to anyone and I can’t find anyone I can trust, or who I feel I can confide in. So I take to the internet, to completely random strangers for respite.
Tell me your stories of loneliness, wether ongoing or from the past, how you intend to deal with it or how you dealt with it.
Sometimes being alone is better than drama. Take the time to enjoy yourself. Don’t frame this as a negative. Go and do something you enjoy. Read a book while enjoying a cup of tea, watch movies, go out somewhere. The possibilities are many.
I am very lonely, because in this world I have been left behind. We are living in a pandemic, and yet most people pretend we do not. I am disabled, have long covid and have been left behind by the majority. I had to give up everything because people refuse to fucking mask and spaces accessible. Staying at home for christmas is the best thing you can do for your health. We are during a global covid surge, the numbers are very high pretty much everywhere. Travelling at this time, especially maskless, is a recipe for death or disability for yourself and anyone else who you would gather with.
I’ll come right out and say it. Big cities were a mistake. I say mask and have disinfectant at every door. I’ve worked in public spaces, and toilets are the worst. And the things people put in their bodies? Ew. Then you look at all the plagues in history that was prevented by common sense hygiene, and you kind of want to remind everyone that your personal space is and will always be 1m distance at all times - no exceptions.
Yeah, at the very least, the ways cities are should be completely reorganized and redesigned. Air filtration systems everywhere. Fancy self cleaning toilets. Accessible buildings. Prioritizing walking, bikes and mobility aid vehicles over cars. And air filtration in public transport. We could do so much better.
@taanegl whatever you do, don’t stay at home. This is a great opportunity to travel places. I spent my previous two Christmases alone in my house and I felt miserable. Try going to some place where you could go in the morning or return to the evening if you don’t afford/cannot get accommodation. Or, if you can, book a ticket in a sleeper train in one day in the evening, and another in a sleeper train back in the evening of the next day (that way, you could combine the cost of the accomodation with that of the transport, and you could come out cheaper and save time). Try getting through all the best parts of that place - maybe check for information about that city on Wikipedia or anywhere and take some photos (it could also be an opportunity to get into photography if you want. That’ll help you out as well. Then start categorizing your pics into a photo management program, you’ll keep yourself busy a lot).
As for me, I think I have enough chores to do to keep myself busy. Plus some movies to watch and a book to finish.
I love to travel :) never considered myself a tourist, because I like to travel to places and meet the people there. Not to lay on beaches and buy cheap trinkets.
I need to save up money again to actually go somewhere I’ve never been. I want to see Africa, Asia, even America. Been largely traveling in Europe and I feel like I need to spread the net wide.
Me and a Swedish-Ghanan friend have talked about visiting Japan to visit his friend, and I can maybe say hello to an old friend who plays the clarinet :)
The world truly is full of wonderful people.
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I don’t have many words of comfort, but I will say this: Even if when you look around you, it seems empty - that does not mean you are alone!
Conversely the same applies for me in my case, I’m supposed to have some family members around me for Christmas… and yet I feel much more disconnected and alone now than I ever have.
Logically, I know that my brain is just playing tricks on me. I have friends who truly care about me, and a few family members who do. But my siblings who are coming to visit us? They pretend to care (at least from my perspective), yet I doubt they do. I’ve heard from others the thoughts they have about me, and it’s really sad to hear.
Unfortunately, the heart often does not follow logic. I can’t help but feel how I do. The only thing I can do is just as I have, which is continuing to push on as hard as I can - some days I don’t make any progress and it feels like I’m frozen in a single frame of the timeline… But I live for the days where the bad fades away, even if only briefly.
So it’s not much, I know, but I will be thinking of you and the rest of my friends here at the Fediverse (and my personal friends of course) throughout the holidays! Some days the road is dark, but you’ll never have to walk it alone.
I used to work retail far from where I grew up, and everyone I knew would go home for the holidays but I would have to work. It was tough sometimes but also it’s just another day, I “took time off” from my home chores to go do what I want once I was off work or if I wasn’t feeling up to it, just stay in with a frozen pizza and watch horror movies.
I’m not sure if that helps, but even though it did rob some of the remaining childhood magic for me, changing the view of holidays to be more mundane helped me feel less bad about my situation and enjoy the fact that I had some time to do whatever I wanted.
It certainly takes the edge off. If it’s just another day, it’s just another day.
is there anywhere you could volunteer? at least around here, many kitchens who cater to the houseless are open and serving folks.
A part of me says I should, since I also feel responsible for abandoning my best friend, who missed his teenage goals of joining the 27 club by a few years.
The heroin epidemic took many of my friends as a teen and left me kind of traumatized. Seeing some of them again could help to spur growth, but I also suspect it might make me deeply depressed.
So I’m not 100% about that one.
