one thing after another

Oh dear. Yes, there are years like that. So much on your plate and issues to solve. Re Christmas, make lists and eat your elephant a slice at a time.

Re the big increase in floaters, do get this checked out can be a sign of an impending detached retina, especially if eye suddenly becomes ‘misty’.

Hope your issue with family gets resolved as that will really lift your spirits.

Sorry, you have had problems, Travelsafar, I just live in hope that next year will be better.
I don't remember feeling like this when I was younger.
As we get older, we do have to deal with more (and unexpected) health issues. In addition to that, our families grow up and have their own problems. It seems to get harder and harder, as you do your best to support them.
I agree with Friday, if you haven't seen an optician, please go and get it checked out.
Sorry to hear you are feeling so low, and you feel better in the near future.

Thank you for your kind words. I have been under the care of the local eye clinic so am resigned to the fact that 'floaters' are here to stay although they did reassure me that in time the brain ignores them and you do too. Its when i am tired that i notice them more. As for family not really sure how that will pan out, just taking small steps to being reconciled at some point. The fact that i am stressing about all these things is telling me that i am getting older because i can't cope with problems in the way i use too. Knowing that fears and upsets can be discussed on gransnet is wonderful as you dont always want to burden friends and family with your worries.

I totally agree with you. We don't want to worry our families and GN is a great place to unburden oneself, but also a place to find a bit of light relief. There are always people who understand how we are feeling.
Take care.

Yes Travelsafar, things do get more difficult and I worry a lot more. Then my daughter tells me off for getting stressed. And she is no one to talk!

I do hope your health problems are resolved soon travelsafar, those on top of family tensions are bound to make you feel down. With luck, small steps with family will reap rewards. As regards the food and shopping for Christmas could you hit the Internet in a big way and get your things delivered?
(I know what you mean about getting older and not being able to shrug things off as easily as years ago. If I think too deeply about what has happened/will happen, loss of dear friends, diagnosis etc, I get a huge feeling of panic or doom, seems to come in waves.)
Take care, good luck.

I refer to this as "when one door closes, there is another one waiting to slam in your face " syndrome, and I have had it for years.
Good luck with your problems, it is so hard to deal with all these things as we age, the family one is particularly hard to take.

As one who has had floaters for years yes you do get used to them and most of the time I forget them although sometimes in bright light it’s a bit like looking through net curtains?
If it’s any consolation I seem to really have to fight very hard at the worrying and the negativity now I m normally a pretty upbeat person but I m really having to fight to keep cheerful nowadays it has stopped coming naturally I also get anxious about silly things that wouldn’t have even entered my head a few years ago Life is getting harder to enjoy and pleasure no longer comes looking for me So if it’s any help to know you are not alone or unusual there you have it
Here’s to 2018 for all of us ?

I will be glad to see the back of this year too. Problems started with DH being rushed into hospital on Jan 12th and bad things kept happening all year.

I am another who wont be sad to see the end of 2017.
Sending love to all who have lost someone dear, who have had bad health or any other problems.
Wishing us all a very much happier new year.

Yes some years are just dreadful. My last really, really bad one was the Year of the Rabbit which was supposed to be my auspicious year!
Oddly ( or perhaps not) those bad years have left me with a kind of fear of being very happy. As if the fates are just waiting to go "Smug cow. We'll teach her!"
Im always conscious how quickly life can change.

I've not posted for a while but I saw this and just had to say how much I agree. I too have had a difficult and stressful year, but nothing that I couldn't have easily coped with when I was younger. But the stress really caught up with me this last week and actually caused me to collapse and end up in hospital. I never thought that would happen to me; I've always been a coper, and it's come as a real shock. Time to re evaluate what is important; what can wait and if I cant change it, theres no point worrying about it. To all those battling in the same way, I wish you a happier, brighter and calmer New Year.

On a much lighter note and so unimportant in the grand scheme, last night when I got undressed my breast prosthesis had burst and I was all sticky down my right side. It is a sticky silcone goo.
So I am one lopsided, I hope I can get another one quickly.

I cant offer much help except to say how sorry I am for your situation and hope all areas get better !

BUT I have to sat Friday your quote about eating the elephant one slice at a time made my day!! And I shall be using it OFTEN going forward :-)

Chewbacca says it all really.

On a practical note - Argos is my friend - almost all my Christmas shopping has been done via their website with next day delivery. No hiccups at all. I'll be sending very few Christmas Cards, instead posting greetings to all and sundry on Facebook. I haven't had to resort to online food shopping yet but may do so for New Year when I'll be feeding the whole family. I've accepted that the old carpet will have to do another year and that the planned repainting is not going to happen. No one will notice if I rely on the table lamps and don't put the big light on.

I don't know about your circumstances travelsafar but the biggest change for us has been accepting that this IS our old age, the rainy day has come, it is time to use our savings rather than add to them. So I solve many problems by 'throwing a bit of money' at them - after all it will only go in carehome fees if it sits in the bank.

I am doing exactly the same as you Granny23 I know we are both in the same situation.
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, it is only going to get harder for us .

When I first got floaters in one eye, I felt I would never get used to it. However, many years later I have actually to think about them and look for them to see them now. They are there all of the time, but my brain has just got used to them. Rather similar to Tinnitus. Again when this first developed, I actually wanted to hit my head hard against the wall - anything to make it stop. Again, the brain adapts and although I still have it, does not effect me much at all.
When I was much younger we had one really, really bad year - house fire, hubbie made unemployed and being diagnosed with life-changing illness, flood, etc.etc. But things pass, and during that same year (on the plus side), I gave birth to a beautiful pair of twins girls.
Life goes on, sometimes lots of bad things seem to come together, but there are usually a plus somewhere along the way.

Oh dear, I suppose this is what Her Majesty termed an 'Annus Horribilis'.
I remember thinking that life was supposed to 'begin at forty' and the year I was 40 was one of the worst years I can remember.

To everyone having problems - I hope that things improve for you and that better things are on the horizon.

Yes - my annus has been pretty horribilis too. OH started with paranoid delusions in May; consultant said there is nothing more to do for him and he is in final phase of illness.

But, the support we receive from our dear family is nothing short of miraculous and we might never have realised quite what wonderful people they are if we had not been afflicted with these miseries.

Oh Annsixty that’s awful. Poor you.

So many people I know are having tough times. I think Chewbacca is right and that we find it much harder to cope with the stuff life throws at as as we get older. I had a nasty fall a week ago, A and E brilliant - but I still feel just a bit shocked
Let's all take care of ourselves and not ask too much of our minds or our bodies

A fall is something I dread, I have osteoporosis and a TKR.
I feel trapped in the house while it is icy.
I hope you have no lasting damage Iam64.

I thought we had had a difficult year until I really thought about it. We have come through all the anxiety and after reading on Grans net some of those very sad stories I can see we are doing okay. Have also joined a meditation group which is helping. So here's to a wonderful new year for us all.

Maybe this will raise a small smile.

I was telling Grampy about this thread in the car and was chuckling about Fridays phrase of 'eating the elephant one slice at a time' .

There was a little silence as we negotiated some tight turns and then he said ' Don't most people have turkey?'

At this point I must point out, I think he has all his marbles still.....although it is sometimes debatable !!