Reaching out for counselling may help you get some shut-eye

Advertisement

Advertise with us

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m in the strange position of sleeping alone in a king-sized bed after 30 years of sleeping with a woman. She’s an alcoholic and has left me for another drunk, and truthfully I’m relieved. But I can’t sleep without her. I lie awake until 4 a.m. and then have crazy dreams.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2020 (2277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m in the strange position of sleeping alone in a king-sized bed after 30 years of sleeping with a woman. She’s an alcoholic and has left me for another drunk, and truthfully I’m relieved. But I can’t sleep without her. I lie awake until 4 a.m. and then have crazy dreams.

I don’t know how to get used to being single. I don’t want to grab onto a new woman — any woman— but I really need to get to sleep at night. — Dying of Exhaustion, Windsor Park

Dear Exhaustion: A  few sessions with a psychologist or relationship counsellor could help you put to bed the thoughts that keep you wide awake, like: “Will I be alone all my life now?” “Who would want me?” or “How can I meet any one new at my age?”

You might also check out Adventures for Successful Singles, which is offering some spring activities for singles, with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I just read your response to Time’s a-Wastin’. (The writer’s young wife wants a family but doesn’t want to work outside the home. I told him to make a budget for that expensive scenario, and share it with her. — Miss L.)

I think the young man also needs to really consider pet costs, as animals are very expensive, especially as they age.

Presently, our fur baby is on special food, along with four medications, vet and grooming bills, among other things. It costs a lot! — A Daily Reader, Manitoba

Dear Daily Reader: Specialized wet and dry food for pets with medical problems can cost a lot, as do medications and litter for cats. Then there are shots and other vet care. Monthly costs can really pile up for two older animals who have health issues.

A perfectly healthy kitty living on a farm is a different story. Dogs, who will slurp down just about anything, still need better nutrition than scraps.

Pets are wonderful, but like little children, they can be expensive.

 

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: The cruelty displayed by the partner of letter writer Awkward Horrible Mess towards both her and her cat is appalling. (Her partner was jealous of the stray cat she took in and doesn’t deny she let it out to get rid of it. I suggested the writer send this new partner packing — Miss L.)

I’d like to suggest there are Facebook groups dedicated to reuniting lost cats with their owners. I would recommend joining up with them to try and locate this poor cat. — Shocked, Want To Help, Winnipeg

Dear Shocked: Thanks! Typing the words “lost and found cats Winnipeg” into Facebook turns up several local groups ready to help. Also, making posters with photos and/or descriptions can help, within a certain radius.

Perhaps this animal is afraid to return to the house, thinking the woman who hoofed him out, might still be living there. Or maybe somebody else has taken the cat in, by now.

 

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

 

Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Provincial teacher watchdog releases names, details in three disciplinary matters

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview

Provincial teacher watchdog releases names, details in three disciplinary matters

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

An Interlake teacher with a history of “intimidating” outbursts has been ordered to participate in counselling and study anger-management strategies after he made a child cry.

Read
Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

The good, bad and record setting performance in Bombers loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

The good, bad and record setting performance in Bombers loss to Elks

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Yesterday at 6:50 PM CDT

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 22-19 defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Elks at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta on Friday was fitting for all the wrong reasons.

The Bombers looked reinvigorated as they jumped out to a 16-point lead in the first half. Then some bad habits reared their ugly head, as the Elks roared back with 19 straight points before kicker Vincent Blanchard walked it off with a 40-yard field goal.

A night that began with so much promise left many fans to wonder what the ceiling actually is for this team in 2026.

On offence, Zach Collaros completed 19 of 30 passes for 219 yards, one touchdown and an interception; Brady Oliveira amassed 118 yards on 16 carries and added a pair of catches for 11 yards; and Nic Demski secured five grabs for 80 yards.

Read
Yesterday at 6:50 PM CDT

‘We got attacked’: Carney says retaliatory tariffs on U.S. to take effect next month

Catherine Morrison and David Baxter, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

‘We got attacked’: Carney says retaliatory tariffs on U.S. to take effect next month

Catherine Morrison and David Baxter, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:46 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney says retaliatory tariffs will hit the U.S. starting next month after Canada walked away from what he called a "bad deal."

The U.S. introduced new 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports on Saturday after trade talks failed.

"We got attacked," Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill Saturday when asked about the escalating trade war.

Carney suspended talks with the United States late Friday and summoned his negotiators back to Ottawa.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 3:46 PM CDT

Wait times for MRIs getting worse in Brandon, Dauphin

Rylee Gerrard 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

BRANDON — Wait times for MRI scans have surged in the Prairie Mountain Health region during the last two years.

Despite a campaign promise by the NDP in September 2023 to increase the number of allied health professionals capable of administering diagnostic imaging in northern and rural areas, wait times for MRIs have increased dramatically in Brandon and Dauphin.

Median imaging wait times tripled at Dauphin Regional Health Centre between 2024 and 2026, increasing from eight to 24 weeks, according to the province’s wait time dashboard.

The Brandon Regional Health Centre median wait times for MRI scans more than doubled during the same period, from nine to 23 weeks.

The trolls inside the Conservative tent

David McLaughlin 5 minute read Preview

The trolls inside the Conservative tent

David McLaughlin 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

The Conservative Party of Canada has a troll problem. And it’s coming from inside the tent.

Once, trolls existed only in imagination. They were figures of mythical proportion, big and small. They lived solitary lives under bridges, in caves, or forests. They were considered dim-witted and mean. Best avoided.

Today, they are real, unavoidable, and ubiquitous on social media. They are anything but solitary. There are tribes of them out there and tribal is how they think and post. As for dim-witted and mean, others can opine but they are uniformly mean and dismissive.

Mean to anyone who disagrees with their views. Dismissive of any view but their own. They distribute questionable, at best, facts and opinions grounded in hostility towards anything or anyone deemed disagreeable or heretical to their world view.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Five Things: PM Carney explains why Canada left the U.S. negotiating table

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Five Things: PM Carney explains why Canada left the U.S. negotiating table

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:58 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Canada is preparing to hit the U.S. with dollar-for-dollar tariffs in response to new 50 per cent duties on $28 billion worth of Canadian products that took effect when talks between the two nations collapsed as negotiations neared the finish line. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney was quiet publicly during the final days of negotiations, but now has now explained his rationale for telling the Canadian negotiating team, led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette, to leave the table.

Restrictions on further trade deals

"The U.S. Introduced at the last hours, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals. You heard me say a moment ago, what we've accomplished in the past year, 20 new deals, economic and security partnerships, the prospect of doubling our market access because we believe in free trade. We're the partner of choice in many respects for countries around the world and the Americans wanted to restrict that. They had language that what they wanted to restrict that, unacceptable," Carney said during a press conference on Parliament Hill.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 1:58 PM CDT