Sometimes I'm So Lonely It Hurts

Friends, great job, fun city living, even a constantly buzzing phone RadhikaSanghaniisnt what you expect when you think of our growing epidemic of loneliness. But that, she says, is where youre wrong

I am Radhika Sanghani, I’m 28 years old, and I am lonely. It might not look like it from the outside. I have more than 14,000 followers on social media, my diary is full of post-work drinks and, right now, I have at least 25 WhatsApp conversations on the go. But, deep down, sometimes I’m so lonely it hurts.

This is not easy to admit. Even though 2.4 million Britons suffer from chronic loneliness, according to an ONS report last year, none of us talk about it. In our society, it’s still seen as an embarrassing taboo. This is the first time I’m talking about it publicly, and right now, I can’t shake the fear that everyone reading this article will think I’m completely pathetic and judge me for it.

But the truth is that there’s a high chance many people reading this will be able to relate. One in five of us is estimated to suffer from loneliness in the UK – particularly young people, who are more likely to have more online connections than ‘real’ ones. It’s becoming such an epidemic that the Prime Minister is launching a national loneliness strategy – which includes dance and cookery lessons to help people connect – and for children in schools to be taught about loneliness.

I felt lonely for the first time when I went to university in London. I’d grown up in the city, so I thought I’d be fine, but while all my friends went off to campus universities and quickly found big, fun groups of friends, I struggled. I was surrounded by older, international students who didn’t embrace the lifestyle, and when I’d walk to a lecture through Oxford Street, I felt like just one more anonymous person in a big city.