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Vanishing Friends

Posted by Gratia @gratia, Jun 6 6:57pm

I’ve noticed that my friends are disappearing. ‘Work friends’ are long gone since I lost job to caregiving in 2025. Now I notice even my long term friends are becoming more distant, I do understand that it’s probably not easy for them to know what to say. I’m finding it adds to the sense of isolation. Have you experienced this loss of friends syndrome? Is it just me?
🤗 Thankful for finding online community ❤️

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Gratia | @gratia | 7 hours ago
In reply to @sunnygardens "This is a common phenomenon, with several root causes. If you can find someone to stay..." + (show)
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This is a common phenomenon, with several root causes. If you can find someone to stay with the person you give care to, set up dates with your best friends. Excited that you understand how they feel but that you really appreciate their friendship.
Try to find a therapist or someone to whom you can talk about the caregiving and diseases stuff. But also try to talk with other friends about other things. It will test your minds to not think about the caregiving for awhile.
The less intimate friends will likely fall by the wayside as you don’t have energy to maintain those relationships.
If friends are around the person with dementia, and seem unsure of how to react or behave, just tell them what to do or say.
It isn’t just you. Sadly, all of us go through this to one degree or another.
Keep talking to us on here. 😊🌻

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@sunnygardens Thank you so much for your wise advice. I appreciate everyone here and I know it’s so difficult for so many. The community helps a lot- mostly to realize we are not alone during this walk. 🤗❤️
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