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~tffb

I'm in the same position, somewhat. As far as feeling more isolated than ever in life. I was going to write a blog post about it earlier, but I looked down at my phone, sitting next to my laptop, and I thought: "there are about three people in the WORLD that I could call right now - my sister, a friend from childhood, or my therapist". That's it. I am "on the outs" with my family (besides my one sister), other friends have moved on during or before the pandemic (relocation, usually), and the apartment complex I live at is filled with people well over the age of 60 (I am 38). No real (genuine) "friendships" to be had there (at least not really fulfilling ones for me).

So, I continue on, and wait to move somewhere with more diversity in people (both in age and interests, backgrounds, etc.). And I have lived like this (mostly isolated) before - in 2009 I barely talked to my best friend (at THAT time), because of our own personal issues, but everything sort of "cleared up" or "resolved" (or, I became less isolated) when I ran into a different friend from the past, and we hit it off.

But again, some friendships fade and obscure. Or they grow toxic. And I have to do what's right for me in the end. I hope I cross paths with other folks in life (as in, IRL), and I do what I can to make that "path" open - I go to the grocery store everyday (even just for a soda), I hike when I can (at a nearby park), and hopefully by doing this, SOMETHING of interest happens, or SOMEONE of interest comes along.

There is only hope.

Thanks for your post, and for those who read this reply, thanks for reading that, too :)

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~sojourner wrote:

I'm happy that you could find some value in the partially shared nature of our experience. In my eyes, most apartment buildings are basically human–size chicken farms — you either are away, or sit in your own box. There are hardly any opportunities to organically get to know one's neighbors short of an unsolicited ring to their door (o horror!) or a rare encounter in the elevator with one of the predominantly elderly inhabitants. Not longer than a month ago I've bumped into a completely unknown young man. As it turned out, he's been living there for over a year already. I haven't seen him before nor after this one instance.

While I completely agree that it's the best action to take in our situations, deliberately putting myself into situations with a heightened potential for talking to new people is a challenging concept for me, emotionally speaking. I definitely have some intense self–convincing to perform! May your hope bear its fruit in due time.