No friends. What do you do with your free time?

[Lonleyinthesun]

What do you do with your free time when you have no friends or nobody to do anything with?

Please exclude working, volunteering, kids and pets as I’m wondering what you do outside of these things.

The weather is getting better and the days are longer but I’m already struggling with things to do and I know loneliness will set in.
My child is grown and I’m single, family are often working or busy with their own lives, the couple of friends I do have live 100s of miles away and I’m finding myself at a loose end.
There’s only so much cleaning I can do, my entire house is spotless, I’ve even repainted it for something to fill my spare time.
Shopping can’t be an everything day. TV doesn’t interest me. I’ve visited all the local museums and landmarks countless times.

So what do you do as an everyday time killer or do you struggle like me?

Local women’s walking group. On Facebook.

Gym, cinema, walking, choir, netball, rounders

I’ve seen adverts locally for the last 4 in the past few weeks.

Gardening
Hiking
Reading

I have no friends but I'm married with children, I've started gardening/greenhouse growing. me and my husband will go out but I don't go out with anyone else. We live out in the countryside so life is very slow out here and ive found peace in just 'pottering' around. No friends = no drama and I love it.

Read library books.

When I’m doing things without friends, I walk, swim, read, go to the cinema.
i also do some exercise classes and play badminton (drop-in sessions) with strangers.

Do you want friends?

Gardening
Walking
Exercise classes -- gym/running/pilates/weights etc
Craft - pottery/sewinging/quilting
Amateur dramatics
Local history groups
Local nature groups
Learn a language

You say don't mention volunteer work but if you have Skills/interests - you could use them.

Gardening, reading, crafting with air dry clay, tv. Mostly reading though.

Dance practice
play Instruments
dog walk
experiment with new cooking/ baking recipes
knitting and sewing
reading

What are you passionate about OP?
Nature, art, music, science, current affairs?

Are there any 'causes' you want to succeed and could start looking at ways to contribute?

You could learn an instrument, to draw, plant and manage a garden for wildlife, learn how to fish, go gold hunting in rivers, take photos of sunsets, explore your local history/chutches, read, just read.

Design and make your own clothes.
Master a type of cuisine you love to eat.
Swim, cycle.
Do stand-up or open mic poetry.
Buy and newspaper and go to local in evening to read and soak up the atmosphere, you might start meeting locals in there.
Join a choir, orchestra.

It's so varied it would help if you had a starting point?

Train to be a breastfeeding counsellor, or child psychologist?

Tutor online.
Go for a drive.

Get some bees.

We're getting a beehive! So excited.

I play Animal Crossing on my sons Switch 😄 I also knit or crochet. I read whatever takes my fancy. I love watching London and other location bus, train or walking videos on YT. I don't have much free time but squeeze a lot in around chores.

Gaming (Elder Scrolls Online, Sims 4, InZoi, Torn City), meal planning - looking up recipes and sorting out the shopping to get the ingredients. Planting seeds and tending to the plants (used to do this when I was stuck inside 24/7 caring for my aged Dad (RIP)). Doing 'art' along the lines of Zentangle and Neurographic drawing (Google!). Making bath bombs and trying to copy Lush ones - and then having baths, obviously :) Playing with AI art (though I feel a bit guilty about that 'cos of the environmental impact). Making playlists on Amazon music. Doing the housework, badly. Watching the birds visiting my feeder on the windowsill. Caring for my Giant African Land Snail.

Think that's about it :)

I parkrun, I practice martial arts, I swim and I am a parish councillor.

Add that to my ds, my job and my garden, I'm generally busy and seldom lonely.

Applied and have been given an allotment.

I'm learning loads and have met some great people. Easy, brief chats, mainly about the allotment. Not all of the time as sometimes I'm the only one there and sometimes others are there at other times to me.

Given me a focus, a space to ‘be’ and sometimes people to chat to.

I read a lot, nothing too taxing, just popular fiction mostly but it's a great form of entertainment.
I go to a couple of gym classes a week- nothing strenuous, just stretch type stuff. For about 2 years now, I've been tracing my family history: not everyone's idea of fun ... but I find it exciting, riveting and absorbing... I find myself up til 3am chasing a lead....
I wish I could motivate myself to clean and decorate my house. It really needs it!

Gardening for me I absolutely love it and can spend all day everyday. Music podcasts art nature reading. There is so much I Don't think I'd ever get bored. What about a project?

Im are making a pond in the garden. I've thought about bees too like a previous poster.

Gardening mostly

Get a dog

You haven’t said how old you are, are you in good health, working or retired, whether you have any acquaintances or other family nearby, whether you have just moved to a new area and want friends there or whether you or your circumstances have changed and you are happy to do things alone etc?

I am married with grown up kids and DH is unwell and I still work part time.

I have started to make more of an effort recently and take steps to do more and try new things.

I have recently reached out to old friends I hadn’t seen in a while and it was really good to see them and catch up. I have met some for coffee, some for lunch, some for a walk and some for a night out. But I believe there was a reason why we lost touch or drifted apart in that our lives changed in different directions. I will see them again if they come back to me but will leave the ball in their court.

I also recently joined a group class at a gym with a shared PT. I go several times a week and I really enjoy these sessions, I have tried walking netball, I do a craft class one one of the days I am not working which I enjoy, I go for walks near where I live to get my steps in, walk our elderly dog and chat to other dog walkers and neighbours in the area. I meet various mainly ex work friends for coffee, I go into town on my own, go on a shopping trip to another city and have lunch out, drive to a local beach on my own, visit family members etc etc. I also intend trying something like painting, pottery or maybe joining a book club.

If you are retired or are a similar age to me you could perhaps look at U3A in your area or see if anything is going on in your local
or nearby community centre that you fancy taking up. Or you could perhaps reach out to acquaintances or neighbours to see if they want to go or want to meet up with you etc etc.

Gym, I’m by no means a gym bunny, but I quite enjoy it and I listen to / watch a podcast while I’m there, sometimes go for lunch / coffee afterwards
Buy a bike and go sightseeing, if you buy a fold up bike you can take it on trains etc and go even further a field
Painting ( acrylic) is very relaxing, but a big canvas and just start experimenting

No friends = no drama

Agree, there are definitely some positives to having few / no friends and I think those pros mainly outweigh the cons

Drink wine, play music, go to the cinema, shopping, lunches, Harrods, facials, massage, Netflix , Desperate Housewives

My MIL in her mid 80’s has just recently moved to a new village and she is embracing it.

They have lots of cafes in the Village so she pops in for a coffee and goes to the local shops on her own. She also does chair exercises with people in her accommodation, plays dominoes with others there, attends meetings and goes out for lunch. She also reads a lot on her IPAD, watches Netflix, plays Solitaire and Suduko and chats to ex work colleagues and family and occasionally they visit her. She is an inspiration.