The Loneliness of the Long-Distance ND
People who know me socially would be amazed at how lonely I often feel. It amazes me too! I am a genuine reach-out-in-welcome, life and soul, gets everyone laughing type. And that's how I am usually seen, I think. A few years ago I tentatively messaged someone I thought I knew from Edinburgh University in 1978. I mentioned that I thought he might have forgotten me. This was his reply: How could I forget somebody who could do an impersonation of a potato being chipped? ( And yes. I had forgotten I ever did that...) So it isn't that I can't socialise. And yet... In the middle of a crowd, even in situations where I'm leading a group or contributing to a meeting, there is a sense of being behind a glass wall. Looking back I see how it affected me as a teenager and how that has had a knock-on effect throughout my life. This is why I'm checking whether I may have a label. Just because it really helps to have a reason for this. It helps to know why I have so often fallen ...