This week, a young Indian gentleman approached me after my talk and told me that he finally understood what had happened to his late father. He showed me a photo he had taken of the slide I use to highlight the negative consequences of chronic or persistent loneliness. He explained that after seeing that slide, he shared it with his mom and siblings because it helped him make sense of what happened to his dad after retirement.
His father had retired a couple of years ago and was soon diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, then had a heart attack, and later passed away. He now realized that after his dad retired, he became incredibly lonely. He told me that his father loved him and his siblings, and they had always done everything together.
The gentleman lived at home until he was 26, but when he and his siblings moved out around the same time his father retired, he now recognizes that his dad was left feeling isolated and lonely. He admitted that, in hindsight, he could have reached out more often and supported his mom and others in their efforts to reconnect his father with his friends.
