d0nnivain Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 A friend moved away last year because her husband was reassigned. He is in the military so this isn't the 1st time they have been uprooted. She's generally one of the most together, secure, outgoing, kind, friendly people you want to meet. She's in a helping people oriented profession & in my experience has no trouble relating to others. She called me today crying because she is so miserable & lonely. This new move has left her feeling isolated. On Monday she found out she didn't get a job she had been banking on & the company's stated reason was because her husband was military & they might get transferred. Seems like a crappy reason to me. I think once she finds a new job, she will feel better because she will have a purpose. Short of getting on a plane, I'm not sure how to help boost her spirits. I plan on calling at least once per week going forward just to see how she is. I reached out to an old college friend who lives near her & they are going to meet for drinks & call me once they are together. My college friend is well connected in the area & may be a great resource for my other friend. Does anybody have any more concrete suggestions on how I can help?
writergal Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Tell her to start a blog to chronicle her family's life there with photos and stories. That will take up a good amount of her time and also inspire her to get herself and her family involved in the community there. She can invite friends and family to follow her blog too, or she could create a Facebook page to use as a blog so that people can leave comments. Also, you and your friend could use video Skype to see and chat with each other. It's free as far as I know. Seeing each other via video will boost your friend's moral too. Suggest that she volunteer doing something that she enjoys. Suggest that she join a temp agency, so she can do short term and long term work. Tell her to join Meetup.com and either join groups that interest her, or create her own group like a book club, photography group, or whatever her interests are. She could also use Meetup to job network. Suggest that she find out through her local library about job support groups that meet. There may be a Work Force Center in her town which is where people go to job search on computers, attend job seminars, and participate in job support groups to network.
Author d0nnivain Posted February 26, 2014 Author Posted February 26, 2014 Thanks for those concrete suggestions. I don't have a video camera thingie so I don't know if I can Skype but I will suggest it to her. I know she has Skyped with her husband when he is deployed. I mentioned the MeetUp. com thing. She does have a line on taking over a local food pantry on a volunteer basis. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
writergal Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Check your computer for a built in camera. Most computers have those and that's what you could use for the video skype. You can also buy a detached camera for your computer for under $50. You attach it to the top of your laptop or desktop monitor and plug the USB end into the USB drive on the side of your laptop or into the tower of your desktop computer.
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