Dear LPG,

I have had a lot of time to think about this as I have become an older person with so much more of an opportunity to just sit and contemplate, and I am now wondering just how confident a person I really am.  As an older person I would have supposed that I need less and less of this attribute to get through life; after all for most of us, the days when we need to take exams and make speeches are behind us and it can be argued that, like any quality that we have, we often only have the amount that we need.  As we get older and go out less we don’t have the challenges that help us to build our confidence and so it has a habit of deserting us when we really do need it.

I think that from what I have written so far the reader will be able to see that I have some repair work to do when it comes to my confidence levels. I think that because I have not had to go out so often I have become lazy and not bothered as much as I should have.  I have found it easier to avoid other people and, spend time at home. 

Not so long ago I realised that the few people who still visit me these days were all telling me the same things; observing that I don’t go out as often as I used to and that they think I appear more depressed, even though I can’t think of a real reason why.

They often say that if there is a problem we first have to accept that we are affected by it and having taken on board what was being said, I decided to do something about it.  I now make sure that I go out at least every two days and I also found quite a lot of ideas on the internet when I looked and thought it would be a good idea to get LPG to highlight this issue, mainly because I know how much it affected me without my even knowing.

I am hoping that the websites that I found on the internet may be able to inspire others that feel the way that I did even if they don’t know it until they read what I have written. In a way writing about it as I have here has been part of the remedy because making the decision to do so is something I thought I would never have the confidence to do.     

YD, New Cross

LPG has provided links to the information that YD offered and would remind readers that they are often posted on sites which are focussing on the issues from the perspective of younger people, but the content is valuable to all. 

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