I think it’s more common than people think. When you don’t have any friends it’s easy to see yourself in isolation, iyswim, because you’re lonely and don’t imagine that there are other people who are lonely too.
I don’t have any friends either. When we moved here I had to give up my whole social group and when we moved here dc was in y5 so the school mum clique was well established by then.
Then I fell seriously ill and was out of the loop for a while, then COVID and now I work erratic hours including weekends so having a hobby or interest outside of the house just isn’t possible due to my work schedule.
I’ve become used to it tbh.
In time I realised that the school gate friendships are typically fluid and drift off once the kids go to secondary, because you rarely have anything in common other than the kids.
If it bothers you to not have friends then you just need to be patient. Friendships can develop out of nowhere but it’s never as simple as joining a club or bumble <shudder> because much like dating a lot of encounters won’t turn out how you hope.
But as PP said, does it actually bother you or do you just feel pressured to have friends because other people do?
My DP has friends, but we don’t live together so he sees them during the week where he works. I’ve warned him that if he moves here he will likely lose those friendships, and that is something which is very important to him. He says it isn’t, but I know him well enough to know that if he was actually in the situation it absolutely would bother him.
whereas I’ve become used to my life the way it is and have accepted it as it is.