Dear n2life,

I wish you fast recovery.

I admire how you go out of your way to help others. I believe it is rare. I noticed what you describe you give to others is “acts of service” (one of so called 5 love languages).

I hypothesize here and of course there is more context that I cannot know, so please treat it as “thinking out loud”.

So one reason could be that others have different love languages. For example such beautiful gesture as making a soup almost never would come to my mind spontaneously, because my default love language would be “words of affirmation”. “How do you make healthy 2-way  friendships in your late ish adult life?” I try to find out what they specifically need and if I do, and see they faces shine, it is very rewarding to see.

Another aspect of the situation that comes to my mind, is that you didn’t mention if you were vocal to your friends saying you were ill and needed them? I find important being vocal even in a situation that seems self-explanatory and obvious. Sometimes people are blinded by their own problems and need more explicit message to shaken that off and reach out…

Have a good day,
Jus