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Hi there friend ..... first, I want to encourage you to find a really good therapist ..... a PsyD .... a Psychologist. Then start to tell him or her what is going on. He may or may not send to to an MD for medication, but even if he does, would you rather feel lousy and not take anything? or would you rather feel better and be taking a med.? That's a question only you can answer.
You are not alone in feeling useless, life is over, and the sense that "why am I still here?" I'm 72, have an apartment fairly close to my 2 girls (I moved down here from a condo and town I absolutely loved to be closer to them), and while I enjoy the times I am with them, they have their own lives, and I can't expect them to cater to me. But, here I am, alone in my apartment with my 2 cats (and hopefully soon a dog), it's a low-income apartment, so a lot of the people aren't around at all during the day so for me that = no friends. I still have 2 close friends in MD, but only 1 here, and she works all the time. I feel totally useless. I know if I found a church to go to, and got involved in something there, it would help, but so far I've not had any success at that either.
So, you see, there are a lot of us out here. At your age, you've got a whole lot of life ahead of you. Take the time to do some of the things you've always wanted to do ..... I wish I would have when I was your age. I wanted so badly to hang glide, hike on the Appalachian Trail and camp in the woods overnight, go back to school, open a little business. I do like to whitewater raft, but I have not done that for awhile either. So I say, GO FOR IT, see a really good PsyD, and when you're feeling better, get out there and just DO IT! (I'm talking to myself too).
Keep in touch ... there are some wonderful and very wise people on this site, and I'm sure you'll get lots more suggestions besides mine.
abby
Replies to "Hi there friend ..... first, I want to encourage you to find a really good therapist..."
Hi there content .... A senior center was mentioned to me before, but, and I hate to say this, but I picture a group of old people sitting around drawing pictures, playing games. In my head I know that's not true, but somehow that's the impression I've got.
abby
Hi Abby,
Thank you for your nice message! I appreciate your encouragement.
I'm glad you live close to your 2 girls. You are so definitely not useless; you're an important part of your girls' lives, you provide care to your 2 kitties (and soon a dog; do you know which breed you are going to get?), and I can see that you are caring and helpful as a member of this community (and of course, among many more examples!). I certainly appreciated your message very much 🙂
I just saw a movie that featured the Appalachian Trail - what a very special place. I hope I could go there someday, and I hope that you can also! Maybe we'll see each other on the trail 😉 It sounds like you have a very adventurous spirit; hope you can reconnect with that side of you in some way. It really is never too late!
I do hope to find a good therapist, and hopefully slowly get back to life. I am on a medication right now, but know it's not going to be the total solution. I look forward to going therapy.
Take care, Abby, and please let me know how it's been going.
So good to "meet" you here,
Brenda
@amberpep I’m not sure if I responded to this before, I see no record of it.
I totally understand your feelings about senior centers, but my sister is a youthful 73 and started going a few months ago and really enjoys it. She goes on Tuesdays for something they do on that day, and sometimes her husband goes too.
I am also funny about switching to a geriatric doctor! What do they do differently than what a regular internist does?
JK
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@amberpep it must be very difficult to feel displaced and not have a group of friends where you are now. Church can be a great place to meet similarly minded people but senior centers can be also. My sister and her husband have lived in the same town for many years and she has many friends there, plus her daughter is in the same town and one of her sons is not far. Even so, she has started going to the senior center a couple of days a week, and thoroughly enjoys it. She has made new friends and gone on some outings that have been run by the center. I use my health club for that and am pretty faithful to the water aerobics classes. They also have social activities for seniors which I have not tried. My goal has been to get physically stronger, and it was to lose weight but I don’t want to lose anymore now. I had a TKR three weeks ago and was afraid that inactivity and snacking would be my undoing but oddly enough I have lost weight!
JK