Mothers devote their entire lives to their children. But being around only kids 24-7 can be a little isolating. Just ask 32-year-old Emily Fox who calls herself the “loneliest woman in the U.K.”
She says that she sometimes go weeks without speaking to an adult. She says she hasn’t made new friends in over a decade.
“I can’t have proper conversations with my children and often they’re at school or at their dads,” she explains. “My youngest is three years old and although they do keep me occupied, they don’t ease my loneliness.”
When Fox, a single mother of three from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, does interact with adults it’s when she’s running errands.
She says she talks to strangers at the supermarket as a way to deal with loneliness.
“I have tried attending parent and baby groups but I still felt isolated at those so I stopped going. I visit the supermarkets as a way of speaking to people and it definitely helps combat some of my loneliness for a while,” she said.
“I spend over an hour doing my food shopping when it could be done in less than half that time. But I take my time so I’m able to have more interaction with others. It has been hard dealing with the feeling of being lonely but I have learned how to cope with it over the years.”
Fox was brave enough to share her story and explain what it’s like for lonely young single moms in a video.
“I haven’t made any friends for years and I often feel very lonely. I won’t speak to a single person for up to three weeks and when I do it’s a shop assistant or a complete stranger,” she says in her video. “I visit supermarkets to interact with other adults and to engage in conversations I haven’t had for weeks.”
She hopes her video spreads awareness about how loneliness can affect effect all types of different people.
“No one thinks loneliness affects people in their 30’s, everyone thinks it’s something that affects older people,” she says.
Fox also explained that lonely people will put on a front and might not seem like they are suffering.
“Every always sees me as a happy and bubbly person but deep down I am very lonely,” she says. “It’s even more apparent at this time of year when people start to think about Christmas and parties that they’ll be attending.”
She says she decided to share her story in the hopes that it will help others who are lonely.
“I hope other people read my story and can relate to the way I feel as it’s really isolating.”
She believes that if more people share their stories they more can be done to combat loneliness. While she does speak with her brother and mother, she rarely sees them.
“When you’re young there isn’t that kind of support and it’s hard to make others understand how you feel,” she says
Fox says that some people have reached out to her on Facebook and that she plans to meet up with some of then at least once a month for some coffee which she says “would make a huge difference.
You can see Fox’s video below.
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