Goodbye to my Annus Horribilis. How was your year, lol!?

2022 was a horrible year for me with several deaths and funerals, including my own and friend's mothers, however, 2023 has seen a wedding, baby shower, new great grandchild and my daughter's 21st birthday, altogether better, there is light at the end of the tunnel 🩷

Happy New Year X hoping 2024 is good to us all. May we all post happily without the Woke brigade taking off in a huff! To peace, love and happiness xx

Thank you, Granniesunite and Jaxjacky for your kind words. 😊

My 2023 had a couple of health glitches, but nothing compared to what some of you have been through.
I wish you all strength in the months ahead and some pleasure to be found, even in small things.

(I don’t object to your lol Fairycakes I get the gist of your sentiments).

You’ve had it difficult yet you remain hopeful and with a sense of humour fairycakes counting your blessings is a wonderful way of cheering yourself up so well done you.

Wishing you a much better year and lol but think you probably have that in abundance.

Anybody who has been wished a happy new year, new start, new life after a bereavement or similar may find this helpful
I did not want a new life, I wanted the old one back.
to all who leave behind a sad year and are bravely facing another lonely one.

Thank you to everyone who has left kind and positive messages 🤗🤗🤗

The past is behind us: learn from it.

The present is here: live it.

The future is ahead: prepare for it.

Not my original, but spotted this just now. Seems right to me.

Goodness, in a strange way reading of how dreadful others have had it this year has made my own misery feel a little less awful, so thank you Fairycakes for the post. I know they say misery loves company but we can appreciate the difficulties others are enduring too. I don’t mind LOL at all, I don’t understand why anyone would take this tiny expression and make it what this post was about. It gave those of us having a hard time a chance to express it and maybe move on a bit. Certainly, getting my own troubles off my back has been a relief to me. I felt this year was worse for me than four years ago when my husband died, I’m not sure why but the grief has been worse this year than any previous year too, I think the finality has finally dawned on me maybe. 2024 is starting with my daughter’s wedding on Saturday, I’m hoping for better times ahead. Happy new year everyone.

No Fairycakes, all things do not pass eventually. And I too hate ‘lol’ in any context.

Fairycakes, keep smiling. There is only one way out of a trough and it must be upwards. We learn from every bad period, these bad times make us stronger.

I am hoping that 2024 is a good year for you

I thought I had a bad end of year, since my sister died in September everything seems to have gone wrong.
But reading some of the above I realise that many have had it a lot worse than me. I do hope things get better for all of you.

Thank you, TerriBull. As far as I was aware it was meant to be positive, and I was laughing at my own misfortune. Still, I've learnt something and I definitely won't be using it again 🤔

I'm sorry Fairycakes, I don't think it's necessarily offensive, a very personal dislike of mine first realised when I saw the lead singer of The Lost Prophets, jailed for abusing babies wearing t shirts displaying "LOL" that's when it occurred to me "I hate that acronym and have ever since. As I said I always assumed that was personal to me, in some contexts I find it crass and some people use it I know to emphasise something that is supposedly funny, but rarely is imo.

Not a personal attack on you and I wish you a better year for 2024. Once again commiserations to those who have suffered bereavement and pain in their lives.

Some people think that LOL means Lots of love. 😉

I hadn't realised that 'lol' was offensive. I used it because I wanted to end my message on an optimistic note. I know that many of you will feel that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and it may seem that way at present, and maybe some of you have a long way to go before you find it, but all things pass eventually. I would never make light of anyone else's situation, and my own has been much worse than I described here. My mental health problems were so severe I thought I was not going to survive. I have spent many months practically bed ridden, but it was hope that got me through it. There were many times where I lost hope and felt like giving up, but I kept searching for things to give me hope - even just the smallest thing. I can't pretend to understand everyone else's situation, but I do sympathise with anyone who is going through a tough time and would never wish to cause them pain.

My husband had a heart attack almost a year ago, and needed a lot of physical help which was exhausting. He made a slow but steady recovery until a slight chest infection which his weak heart was unable to fight and he died in April. Since then I have gradually been sorting and clearing his stuff, which is still ongoing but I have set myself a target date. But the more stuff I get rid of, the more I feel I am getting rid of him and that is hard.
I keep thinking he is away visiting his daughter and will be back soon, or I turn to tell him about something and he is not here. Coming to terms with my new reality is something I am learning.
Very soon I am going to book a couple of coach tours as I need to go on holiday. It is not easy to know what to do with my life as a ( nearly elderly) single person, but I am in reasonable health and have a loving, supportive family not far away, so I try to look positively into this new year.

I'm very sorry for everyone who has had a bereavement or suffered a debilitating illness, I've had a few trials and tribulations but nothing major.

Whilst not wanting to pile in, I would just say there's something about "LOL" I dislike it, I thought that was personal to me, but obviously not.

I’m Not wanting a heated disagreement so early in this year and after an OP aimed at raising spirits. A word of support for RosiesMaws dislike of lol. I share her dislike of this turn of phrase. I’ve seen it used on this forum as a passive aggressive response.
It goes without saying, that isn’t the way Fairycakes was using it. I found 2023 the most difficult in my 74 years. My husband’s death in October 22 came 6 months after a devastating, unexpected diagnosis. I’m resilient but ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ - not a spot of it. I’m rebuilding my life as well as I can. I didn’t ’need’ these tough times, didn’t find it good for my soul and the only good that came from it was the continuing love from family and friends.

This has been one of the worst years of my life it started in
January with the death of my youngest sister and ended two weeks ago with the death of my husband. In between I have lost 8 friends some from schooldays, in May I slipped in the shower damaged my hip and knee and crushed two vertebrae in my spine leaving me disabled and unable to walk and in constant pain. The private carer who looked after me fell in love and now lives in Barcelona and I just can’t find a decent replacement. My youngest son still refuses to have anything to do with me which is heartbreaking and I can’t see my little g.grandson. My elder sister who is 90 also has a fall a few weeks ago and has become very fragile and I dread what will become of her. So I am saying goodbye to 2023 go away please and I hope 2024 will be better for all of us. HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thank you for your kind words Fairycakes.

Fairycakes

RosiesMaw
I wasn't making light of anyone else's situation - just my own. I have had a terrible year but I'm trying to be hopeful. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel or it may be a long way off, but "laugh out loud" is singularly inappropriate for many - I would have been dreadfully hurt at a similar turn of phrase the Christmas after my DH died, for instance.
It's a horrid expression and too easily bandied about.
And before anybody tells me to lighten up, bereavement, serious illness diagnosis, miscarriage or Alzheimers are no laughing matter.

For anyone going through a tough time I would say it's important to keep hope alive. That's what keeps us going.

I’ve also had an awful 2023. A family member was sectioned and his ex stopped access to his children as a result. It was a short incident caused by medication for something else entirely. Restoring contact has so far cost nearly £70k despite him doing nothing wrong. The system is beyond appalling. I can’t say anything in detail but I’m no fool and he is a gentle, kind and generous man and certainly not the person the other party says. They’ve been apart more than six years and still he is hounded by this person. My sister died suddenly in October. 2023 can do one.

Redhead56
I hope that this year will be better for you. I'm glad to hear that you have received treatment for the COPD. My husband also had a close family member die unexpectedly, which really affected him. It's taken a while but he's beginning to slowly turn a corner - and so will you. We sometimes need to go through darkness but the light gradually returns. We just have to keep going.