Mental health issues are real and before the pandemic hit I was reporting on them a lot. I worry so much about the many kinds of isolation this year has wrought and the long-term effects of feeling so alone for so long. It’s not normal, and it makes sense if you’re struggling.

So many people feel profoundly alone, even within their relationships and friendships. Behind the big grief of COVID deaths there are so many smaller but still painful griefs that have accumulated this past year. They’re all valid.

Valentines Day feels especially cruel to me this year. Lonely people don’t need a reminder of how lonely they are.

I’d like to listen to your story of loneliness, if sharing it would make you feel better. Connecting with people, even on this app, makes me feel better too.

Your story can just be about how bad it feels to be alone so much of the time, or how your relationship fell apart during the pandemic, or how you haven’t seen your friends or parents or siblings in a year and you don’t know when you will

Or how your friendships don’t feel the same even when you do text and Zoom because they’re missing that sparkle of in-person connection. Or how you’re trapped inside a house with the same people every day but feel isolated from them all the same. Loneliness is everywhere!

I’ll go first: My boyfriend and I broke up in late 2020, introducing me to the extreme loneliness of the pandemic for the first time. After many years of happily living alone, I couldn’t handle it anymore and had to move in with my parents. Things are better, but still difficult.

No one likes to admit they’re having a hard time but I just want to show that everyone is!!! And it’s OK! I have literally nothing to do today so please share with me if you want!! I’ll respond. You can DM me too if that sounds better to you