How to deal with loneliness?
I know many of us have lost close friends in recent years - how do you deal with the loneliness that comes from it?
For a while I've been feeling a bit like nothing brings joy and I've come to realize that it's because I'm lonely. Even though I have a lot of amazing things in my life to be grateful for I only have my husband to share it with.
A bit of background: I grew up in the US and I was lucky to be surrounded with great friends. I wasn't extroverted at all but I always managed to make good friends. But everything changed after Oct 7. Friends have been dropping me left and right. Even my best friends since college (I'm late 30s now) - the type of friends that would show up unannounced to your place and it would turn into an impromptu pizza and movie night - they've all turned their backs on me. Even kicked me out of the group chats we had.
Around the same time I moved to Spain and everything you hear about Spain's antisemitism has been so true. I moved to marry my husband (we are both males) and his family and a lot of his friends stopped talking to him for marrying a Jew. They were super pro gay marriage - but being Jewish was a no no.
Then there's my family - they still don't fully accept me being gay that they didn't even show up to my wedding so I don't really talk to them anymore.
I am working remotely from home and I know it sounds like a dream but I am basically alone all day (husband works at an office so at least he interacts with coworkers and clients).
The only thing keeping me a bit sane is our synagogue community. They have been wonderful but outside of services and holidays everyone kinda has their own cliques that they hang out with. It seems like mostly everyone is either college age or retirement age - and the very very few our age are starting families so we rarely see them.
In the US I had no problem joining different groups (volunteering, Freemasons, DnD groups, book clubs, etc....) as I lived in a pretty Jewish city - but in Spain I'm scared because the I/P conflict is the only topic everyone seems to talk about and I don't want to hide my Jewish identity just to fit in.
I know there are some online groups but what I crave is offline human interaction like what I had before.
This is all weighing down on me and I am so over it. :(
Sorry for the word vomit. I honestly have no where else to vent - and sometimes I get scared that I brough so much unnecessary hardship to my husband (who has been more than amazing) simply because he married a Jew.
Posted Apr 9, 2026, 7:52 PM UTC