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Loneliness: coping with the gap where friends used to be | Loneliness | The Guardian

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Friendships can be difficult, and lockdowns have made them even harder to maintain. But we should cherish them A lmost every day for the past few months, I’ve told my husband I am lonely. Obviously I’m glad that he’s around. What I miss are my friends. In the first lockdown, we stayed in touch with Zoom dates, which were awkward, often drunk and occasionally very joyful. Those days are long gone. I’ve returned to texting, and though I’m often deep in four or five conversations at once, it isn’t the same as being together. In the past year, there was a difficult bereavement in my family, and work has been harder than normal. None of these things are unique or insurmountable but the isolation has left me feeling almost capsized by anxiety and paranoia. I’m definitely not alone in this. The other night, my stoical husband stunned me by crying out in what sounded like real devastation: “No one texts me! No one WhatsApps me!” He’s a generation older than me, and rarely discusses his feeling

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks: showing how city life can isolate us. Photograph: Artiz/Alamy View image in fullscreen Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks: showing how city life can isolate us. Photograph: Artiz/Alamy Loneliness This article is more than 5 years old Loneliness: coping with the gap where friends used to be This article is more than 5 years old Friendships can be difficult, and lockdowns have made them even harder to maintain. But we should cherish them Olivia Laing Sun 18 Jul 2021 04.00 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google A lmost every day for the past few months, I’ve told my husband I

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