How to Deal with Loneliness

Loneliness is a huge issue for Baby Boomer women. Many women in their 60s are living alone and, while some of these women are enjoying their new found independence, others find themselves feeling like their lives lack purpose or direction without close social ties. In fact, in a recent Sixty and Me survey, 75% of the women in our community said that they are feeling alone. Read More

We all have moments where we want to be alone. Many older women have built defenses around feelings that are painful or things that they don’t want in their lives. They know themselves well enough to know when to shut the door and be alone. Read More

There is a lot of truth to the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention. This is true, not just for inventions, but, for reinventions too! Sometimes what we need to get in the best shape of our lives is a wakeup call from our doctor that our current habits are killing us. Likewise, feeling lonely can be a catalyst for positive change. It’s all a matter of perspective. Read More

One of the most important things that I learned from our survey on loneliness is that people who are dealing with loneliness are not starved for interaction – they are starved for intimacy. I don’t mean intimacy in a purely romantic or physical sense. Read More

Many years ago, I had a good friend who had just gone through a very difficult loss and was overwhelmed with sadness. All I could do for the first few weeks was sit with her while she cried. Over time, she revealed the depth of her guilt and sadness and I realized that it was going to take her a long time to heal. Read More

In a world that has become increasingly connected, you would think that it would be easy to fight loneliness. In reality, the opposite is true. Loneliness is still a big problem and it’s likely to get worse as more baby boomers reach retirement age. Read More

One of the challenges when it comes to overcoming loneliness is that everyone’s idea of friendship is slightly different. In addition, each of us has a different level of comfort when it comes to social interaction. Read More

Feeling lonely is difficult to talk about. At times, it feels like loneliness is not just a feeling, but, a reflection of our place in society. Maybe we feel like we should be able to “take control” or “just get out there and meet people.” That’s certainly what society would like us to believe. Or perhaps we feel like we are alone in our loneliness – that we are one of only a handful of lonely people. Read More

As a society, we love to talk about what lonely people are doing wrong. Some of the advice that people give is productive and well-intentioned, but, today, I came across a quote that I absolutely disagree with. The quote was by Joseph F. Newton, who said “People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.” Read More

People tend to think that overcoming loneliness is all about building connections with other people. As a result, most of the advice that you will hear when you tell someone that you are feeling lonely can be paraphrased as “what’s the problem? Just get out there and meet more people.” Read More