Painful start to the year is still a lesson!

IT’S hard to believe it’s the second week in April, and I feel so behind with all your cards and letters.

Please forgive me; I try to keep up but the truth is — this has been a difficult year: 16 weeks so far and only four without pain or problems. To that, some of you might chorus, ‘Join the club!’ — and you’d be right.

But having my horrible shingles segue into something even more painful called postherpetic neuralgia felt like a stroke of bad luck too far.

One thing all this has taught me is how stoically so many people endure physical and emotional pain. I’m in awe of those who write through the paper or via Facebook and tell me their own stories.

To quote all the uplifting messages would take more than this whole column. Also it moves me greatly to know how many of you gain strength from reading of the sorrows of others in this column.

Which reminds me to tell you about a new(ish) incarnation. A new column! My colleagues running Mail+ now set me a weekly challenge, in the form of a short, imaginary letter from somebody in the headlines that week. What will I make of the problem? For example, a man living in America, estranged from his family here, explained, ‘. . . both my wife and I have said some very unflattering and damaging things about them — and now we hardly see one another.’ His name began with H . . .

Each week I answer with absolute seriousness — because I firmly believe most problems are universal and that nobody should be too grand to listen to advice. Don’t ever think that the rich and famous don’t lie awake at night wondering what to do.

I do my best to tell it as I see it. The new column will be on Mail+ every Thursday and you can subscribe at mailsubs.co.uk. I think you’ll like it!

■ Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, london W8 5HY, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. Names are changed to protect identities. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.