An appeal

I am going a bit off the beaten track this time. But I hope you will indulge me and follow.

One of my earliest blogs (Him and Her) was about feeling invisible in later years and the importance of still valuing oneself. It was perhaps easy for me to suggest that even though I am fully aware of the difficulty of implementing it and feeling that worth as so often our self-esteem is dependent on others and can thus be so easily eroded.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about this as I have been in close contact with elderly people who not only feel helpless and worthless but also very lonely even though they have family because no one seems to have time for them.

The common thread that comes up in talking to them is the dire need for human contact, I would imagine both emotionally and physically. Researchers have found that loneliness is just as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Lonely people are 50% more likely to die prematurely than those with healthy social relationships.

Recently, I was standing in a queue at a supermarket and the lady behind me, who only had a couple of items, was asked if she would like to go the self-service line as it would be quicker. She declined and turned round to explain to me that she came everyday just to buy one or two things so that she could talk to someone and we struck up a short conversation till it was my turn.

So I decided to make an appeal in my blog this time (even though it might be a bit presumptuous of me) and reach out to my dear readers to request them to phone an elderly relative, neighbour or friend, that they know or maybe even make time and visit.  

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