re: #250 Justanotherhuman

I went through a very similar thing in my 50s, when I lost a well-paying job, was under- and unemployed after that, my house was foreclosed on, and I had to move here to the “boondocks”, into my son’s house; in fact, I had a “nervous breakdown” during that period. I share a similar story to yours in that I was raised very poor and raised 2 kids by myself with virtually no education except a couple of yrs of comm college in my 30s.

But getting out of the pressure cooker I was in, as a single female person, and scaling down everything, including jobs, was an eye opener and mental health cleansing in my case. I was on so many medications before I moved here I was a zombie and incapable of making decisions; I got off all of them and have never looked back. Learning to simply go with what I have and not “forecasting” the future was a huge step.

Hmm, do either of you have any pointers towards things that can help with the mental side of these sorts of issues?

A couple of friends and I have noticed that another friend’s wife is frequently now posting religious links and also a few screeds about her education and degree having meant nothing. Not how she normally behaves, but she has been under- and/or un- employed for a few years now. And I know this has strained things in her relationship with her husband and other areas since money is pretty tight with them (5-year old daughter, flooded out by Sandy, etc.)

I also have to work out how to broach the issue in a polite way.