is it ok to be a 'shut in'

@Gibbon I used to have a friend on here who is like 55, she said once, "I feel like I have experienced about everything that I am going to in this life, I just want to relax now."

Whether that is true or not is debatable, but it also contradicts my thoughts right now about "There has got to be more to life than this".

@Punches I think a lot of this attitude has to do with what family we have left and social circles of friends and acquaintances. I have none so it certainly affects my future outlook.

@Gibbon Our circle shrinks as we age.

I just remember when I was a kid, there was all this family, friends partout, but now I see what is left of my family only on xmas and new years.

How does one deal with this situation? Making friends is near impossible.

@Punches We had big family gatherings every month. The biggest part from my mother's side. My Dad's family was in Maine so I only saw them when visiting and many have passed. All of my mom's side is gone except for one aunt I have no interest in. My parents moved a lot so I developed no long term friendships. The workplace usually provided that in early years. In later years they were the last ones I wanted to spend time with.
Yes making new friends out of the blue as one gets older is hard to do. You have to be naturally social and involved in local group or volunteer activities to find that. None of those things appeal to me.

@Gibbon I am not real social. I prefer deeper connections rather than idle chit chat.

@Punches Absolutely and that takes time with the same person to develop. It seems so unlikely when we don't have an outgoing routine.

@Gibbon The hard thing though - if we have few or no connections, it is lonely. But if we do, it is drama.

I think a lot of people want a social life but that can be tiring even in best cases. Or like how people are busy so during down time, it becomes a chore to "get out there".

They say humans are social creatures but I wonder to what extent. When we are in situations where we have to be around several others, things often hit the fan. Situations like school or incarceration or even having to work as a team at work.

@Punches All situations avoidable when retired and able to stay home. My critters keep me company.

@Gibbon I told someone this on another thread but at this point I keep thinking, "What is one suppose to be doing with their life at this point (50)? Does it even matter?"

When I was in my 20's and knew everything, I thought older people were just cr4zy when they talked about certain things, the same things I now think about. Like what comes after, or "there has to be more to life than this" etc.

Ya know here is one - so today we have the web which we can kind of reach out, even with some of the BS that happens online.
What did lonely and isolated people do to curb loneliness before the web?

Mr Gibbon I am not going to lie, I often feel like I am getting old before my time. 😬

@Punches I was older than you when I met Vickie. She was at the top of your age bracket. I never thought about another relationship when it happened but fortunately it was the best of my life and the kind few will ever know.
But I had that feeling about aging before then and still have it now. At some point in the past I never thought I'd see 70+ yet here I am wondering how much time I have left. I don't actually give much thought about what I'm going to do with it.
I spent a lot of time alone before we had all this tech and was fine. Of course I was younger and always finding something to do on my own.
I'm guessing if we didn't have or know about these things we would be better off than we imagine because we wouldn't know any different and we would probably have continued getting out into the world where society was much different than it is now.