As storm Jocelyn tore through our street last week, I told my husband it was fine to put the recycling bin out to be collected the next morning. But soon all we could hear was the bang of bins and the clatter of rubbish tumbling along the road. I regretted putting the bin out but was reminded that it wasn’t only our bin, it was everybody’s bins.

It got me thinking. Often when we are going through a hard time, we forget that we are not alone; almost everyone is struggling with something. There is strength to be found in shared suffering and the community that can be created out of it.

When I was first diagnosed with MS, I went to a support group for other people in the same boat and it was reassuring. Last year, because of the kindness of somebody else, I was able to get in touch with a number of people and eventually get my own trike. Each person that I came in contact with was warm, encouraging and had the requisite sense of humour that comes with having a disability.

Is there a group that might help you? To give you the friendship, company and understanding that you really need? I still steer clear of official ‘disabled groups’ as I see myself as more than just one label and feel that I need to be with people in other walks of life too. That’s the other side of it: being separated into a single group can bring its own misunderstandings. But to have someone beside you that knows how it feels can be a real help.

As has been said before, everybody has something. There is definitely a joy in finding that you are not alone. There is a song that I haven’t heard for about thirty years that goes: ‘He walked where I walk. He stood where I stand. He understands.’ Maybe that knowledge can comfort you as well