Alone

This morning I've had episodes of feeling profoundly alone. They are quite debilitating, making it impossible to work or focus on much of anything. I'd thought these had been left behind, but I guess not.

I wonder if that's how some people feel about Christmas — profoundly alone in the midst of all the "family togetherness time" language that surrounds the season.

For me today, recovery was generated by someone walking into my office to talk about distinguishing current versus long-term assets and liabilities with respect to the already convuluted pension accounting rules — totally unrelated to anything connected to the feelings of aloneness. Which, of course, makes me wonder if assisting the painfully alone might actually require less attention to the reason for the feeling rather than more — if perhaps those best situated to help are not those who identify with the pain, but those who simply engage the individual with the ordinary things of living.