Sunrise Living have came up with this campaign to raise awareness about loneliness in old age and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share their campaign and show what I did to get involved. Loneliness can be detrimental to a person's health no matter what age you are, but it tends to get worse as we get older. It can help contribute towards depression and anxiety along with missing out on seeing your family grow up.

My Nan is in her 70's and has unfortunately been divorced for nearly 40 years. She has a daughter and a son (my Dad) and they left her house when they grew up and moved out about 20 years ago (my Dad had me in his early twenties if you're confused about the ages) so she has been living in the house by herself ever since. My Auntie stays with her sometimes, my brother stays with her once a week and I try to visit her when I'm not in work. She looks after my little sister Sofia once/twice a week so she does get visitors, we don't leave her! While she sees her friends, or "the girls" as she says, despite one of them being a male, she doesn't see a huge group of people very often.

Sunrise Living gave us some money towards food shopping to make something for my Nan and sent us a game of Uno and a pack of playing cards so us grandchildren could all get around a table and spend quality time together. My boyfriend is behind the camera in this photo so he joined in as well. I decided to make Creme Brulee as she really enjoys it, and added chocolate to some since they weren't as keen, especially my fussy little sister. We taught her how to play Uno and certain card games and she really enjoyed the day. Getting around the table even once every few weeks can make a huge difference.
I like to think of my Nan as another Mum since she helped raise me and the thought of her feeling like she has nobody to see really upsets me, even more so at this time of year. Luckily she is coming over on Christmas morning to see us all and I may have bought her more presents than I meant to because I kept thinking about her when out shopping.

If someone you know is feeling lonely, why not ask to have a chat over a cup of tea? Take a walk with them or even give them a quick phone call to see how they're doing. My Nan is not the only one who feels lonely and she really appreciated us making the effort to all get together at the same time since it rarely happens. Make someone's day even if you don't realise they're lonely.


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