Hello -- I understand what it feels like to be lonely. Because of illness, I have just about enough energy to hold me job, and I come home and crash. Other issues, too, but I want to respond to you, not write about me.

When I had more energy to "get a life," what worked for me was to find something that interested me and pursue that. It never worked for me to making "meeting people" the goal; it worked better for me if I was interested in something and met other people who also were interested in that. At various times in my life, the things that have interested me were being a barfly, yoga, AA, and chuch study groups.

I hope you find something that interests you to pursue. Also, do you have health benefits that will allow you to see a counselor to work on this? If you don't have such benefits, is it possible that you can find a sliding scale group that you can afford?

Wishing you a better new year.