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Feeling Overwhelmed: Divorced, Jobless, and Facing Sister's Cancer - What Should I Do?

Kanchan

Kanchan Rai  |663 Answers  |Ask -

Relationships Expert, Mind Coach - Answered on Aug 30, 2024

Kanchan Rai has 10 years of experience in therapy, nurturing soft skills and leadership coaching. She is the founder of the Let Us Talk Foundation, which offers mindfulness workshops to help people stay emotionally and mentally healthy.
Rai has a degree in leadership development and customer centricity from Harvard Business School, Boston. She is an internationally certified coach from the International Coaching Federation, a global organisation in professional coaching.... more
Asked by Anonymous - Aug 29, 2024Hindi
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Relationship

Hello Ma'am, I am 52, Divorced. My life is going through lots of turmoil at the moment, I lost my job, my sister is diagnosed with 4th stage cancer. I am finding difficult to take it. I don't know what to do? Please advise?

Ans: Losing your job and facing your sister's serious illness at the same time is incredibly tough. It's natural to feel overwhelmed.

First, allow yourself to acknowledge these feelings. Talking to friends, family, or a counselor can help you feel less alone. Focus on small steps to regain some control, like taking care of your health and reaching out for support.

Regarding your job, consider this an opportunity to explore new possibilities. Utilize job search resources or seek career counseling to guide you through this transition.

With your sister's illness, being there for her is important, but also remember to take care of your own mental health. It's okay to seek help and take things one step at a time. You're not alone, and there are people and resources that can support you through this difficult time.

You may like to see similar questions and answers below

Anu

Anu Krishna  |1794 Answers  |Ask -

Relationships Expert, Mind Coach - Answered on May 18, 2021

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Relationship
I lost my father when I was 17 and was raised by my mother all these years. Last year, I lost my mother to COVID. I am the only child and don't have any siblings. I am 36 and not married. I don't have a boyfriend, neither am I in a serious relationship. After my parents' death, am being pressured into marriage by my relatives but I am not ready. I am in touch with a few cousins and friends but I don't feel any better talking to them. I may be wrong but I feel that they're either too sympathetic or trying too hard to be positive and cheerful. It's hard to explain to anyone how I am feeling right now. There are days when I feel completely alone, lonely and wish I had a sibling or someone who would understand me without having to explain anything. My colleagues are supportive but I am not able to focus at work either. I tried taking a few days off but there is a void and sense of loneliness that I am unable to overcome. I don't know how to make sense of this situation. Can you help?
Ans: Dear P, how exactly do you want to feel? What exactly do you want currently? It is imperative for you to know that we all go through phases in life; some are happy ones and some are not-so-happy ones.

But do know that, these phases are not permanent and that they do have an expiry date on them.

The key to this is with you. How long do you want to lock in that feeling of loneliness or helplessness?

Does it help you to think whether your relatives are sympathising with you? What if they really are caring for you?

Sibling or no sibling, our life is ours and a journey that we must take. And marriage is a decision that is yours to make; you don’t need to yield into any pressure or get yourself to believe that it will drive away your loneliness.

What did you do earlier to move away from loneliness?

How did you keep yourself occupied? Was it a new hobby or could it have been learning a new skill?

Sometimes, doing something absolutely NEW can help de-focus from what we are dealing with currently.

On a long-term thinking, do know that every phase gives rise to a new one.

Join support groups online or any valid meet up group that can bring in some fresh new perspectives.

Connect with old friends. Choose how you want to feel now and move in that direction.

Surround yourself only with happy people and happy thoughts all the time. It does help.

Office colleagues can double up as a good support group, if you are fine sharing your inner feelings with someone that you are close to.

If that isn’t an option, then old friends can do the job really well. But it is important to talk to someone and release what’s holding you back and keeping you away from what you want to feel and what you want to do. All the best.

..Read more

Nitin

Nitin Sathe  | Answer  |Ask -

HR, Recruitment Expert - Answered on Jul 19, 2023

Asked by Anonymous - Jul 19, 2023Hindi
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Career
Sir, I am a BTech MBA student with close to 20 years of experience in IT sector. I have climbed the ladder in corporate and currently working for a reputed MNC. I earn well. Few years back due to a severe health issue, had to undergo surgery and now struggle with my health due to loss of a internal organ. My energy levels are down and I am unable to focus and thrive in my job. At the same time, my marital life is full of misunderstandings and has no peace. I am not blaming anyone here but I am assessing my situation. Due to all this, I am more spiritually inclined towards salvation. However I have my parents, child and family to finish my responsibility. Basically I have lost the drive to work due to my poor health and all the stress in life but at the same time need money for family, medical expenses and parents. I lost my previous job due to being not committed and finally was fired because I did not live upto the expectations. I managed to get another job but here too I am unable to deliver due to all the issues in my life. (health, marital, lack of focus etc) I am 45 now. I tried yoga, and few other activities to boost my health. My doctor claims that I cannot work like before due to my health issue and my mind is very much oriented towards spiritual studies but I have a family duty to do. Can you tell me how should I handle all this ? I wanted to add more and hence re-submitting the question again, I love being alone with myself, I dont like people, crowd, and I am afraid of them, I want to be left alone and away from everyone. I am a normal person but I somewhat feel unnecessary to mingle and speak to people because everyone is just gossiping or talking politics or talking some irrelevant subject or conversing about someone else, providing opinions and perceptions, which at the end of the day leads to nothing ? Hence I avoid people and interaction unless it is into spirituality. After aligning to spirituality, i feel like functioning in this existence has become difficult because everything is just a play and a game and everyone's karma is dissolving or creating for their satisfaction of desires. This too is hampering my career,
Ans: You seem to be blaming your health for all the issues you are dealing with as of now. I suggest you do the following…
First read a book titled ‘Born to Fly’ It is about a pilot who loses all his limbs due to an accident and how he rebuilds his life to a more meaningful one. I am sure you will feel motivated by this reading.
Secondly, I do strongly feel that you need to go to a counsellor and get rid of the negative thoughts that seem to be plaguing you.
Thirdly, I do not agree that keeping away from people is a right thing to do. Human beings need to interact with each other to lead a fruitful life. You need to understand this and Counseling as above would help you.
I await hearing from you again after you do the above!
Best of luck!

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Anu

Anu Krishna  |1794 Answers  |Ask -

Relationships Expert, Mind Coach - Answered on Sep 22, 2025

Asked by Anonymous - Sep 16, 2025Hindi
Relationship
I am 55 years old women. I have been married for last 29 years. It was arranged marriage. I am working in Govt. sector. I have a son who is 28 years and married settled abroad. However, my marriage life was not good from the beginning. My husband has physically & mentally abused me several times. As I wanted the relationship, I accepted him. Now, after all trauma, he has felt the house after some fight. This is not the first time when he has left the house. We are not legally separated. I am staying with my father who is 80 years old. I don't want to be a burden to my son or my father. I am having health issues. Now that he has left me and son is far away, what should I do? One of my college friend (only) met me after 31 years. He is also separated and emotionally travelling in the same phase of life for past 10 years. He wants to share rest of his life together. However, due to my past experience, I am unable trust anyone or to forget my past life. I feel very lonely and depressed always. Pl. advice what I should do at this stage of life?
Ans: Dear Anonymous,
Don't jump from one relationship into another to fill some emptiness; it never ends well!
First find some sort of workable resolution for your marriage. Are you willing to separate? If Yes, then proceed in that direction. If Not, then know that by engaging in another association, you will complicate your life further. Instead treat this other person as a friend (if feelings don't get in the way); both of you can help one another through this challenging time provided you can be mature about it.

All the best!
Anu Krishna
Mind Coach|NLP Trainer|Author
Drop in: www.unfear.io
Reach me: Facebook: anukrish07/ AND LinkedIn: anukrishna-joyofserving/

..Read more

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Ravi

Ravi Mittal  |722 Answers  |Ask -

Dating, Relationships Expert - Answered on Apr 29, 2026

Asked by Anonymous - Apr 26, 2026Hindi
Relationship
My husband shares everything with his best friend. I understand they are close but I am not comfortable when he shares stuff and private bedroom conversations. Once he was joking about something deeply private I had only told my husband. While I respect friendships, I am uncomfortable when there there is no boundary between his friendship and our marriage. The last time i mentioned this, he said his friendship is older than our marriage and I am overthinking and creating unecessary stress. How do I talk to my husband about this without creating conflict?
Ans: Dear Anonymous,
You are not overthinking. Wanting privacy about your relationship is a reasonable boundary. His friendship might be older than your marriage, your consent to share sensitive information which involves you still applies. And friendship and marriage are two different things, and each has its own place.

The best solution to this situation is to have a conversation, the right time, right place and right way. Pick a time when both of you are calm and relaxed. Frame the conversation around trust, not control. If it sounds like you are asking him to choose marriage over friendship, he might get defensive. So, highlight your emotional safety instead of sounding accusatory that he is making you feel a certain way. Be specific about your boundaries: bedroom talks are off limits, or personal insecurities should not be shared outside of the marriage. Everyone needs someone to vent to, and talking to friends is okay, but not when it makes your partner uncomfortable. Acknowledge that he needs to talk to someone about things, but remain firm about your boundaries. If he still brushes it off, let him know that joking about your private matters hurt your deeply. If nothing else works, I really suggest marriage counseling. Sometimes people need to hear the hard things from others, instead of their partner, to understand it's validity.

Hope this helps.

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