Why Am I Finding It Difficult to Articulate My Thoughts

When I put fingers to the keyboard, I stall

Caroline de Braganza
4 min readAug 2, 2024
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Am I pretending I’m okay now — kidding myself that I’m over the grief?

I guess it’s the switching from we to me has created this dilemma. I’m not sure who I am or how to get out of this jam, surviving from one pension check to the next; never knowing when I can escape this trap of poverty.

Yes, I’m announcing it for all to hear. I can’t bear to read stories where people can socialize, travel, jump into their car to visit friends or meet for lunch, or join a book club, or go to the library.

I live miles away up a dirt track that demands an SUV with higher ground clearance. The road surface is so bad an ordinary car could end up with a battered oil sump.

I’m stuck at home, a prisoner of circumstance; dependent on the goodwill of the old acquaintance of my late husband for a roof over my head — I can’t even afford to pay rent. On top of that, the man’s a narcissist and thrives on negativity.

For instance, I put more than enough petrol in his car for my weekly shopping — the only time I ever get away from this ramshackle cottage. Yet he accuses me behind my back of being a taker.

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Caroline de Braganza

Wise Older Woman (WOW). Poetry, essays, humor. Passion for mental health, social justice, politics, diverse cultures, the world and environment.