Hilary Fannin: I’d forgotten I had a guardian angel
They used to come free with a convent-school education
All the Lonely People: readers tell their stories
Many contributors say they felt better just by reading how common loneliness is
Barbara (83): ‘I light candles because they make me feel somebody is here’
All the Lonely People: For Barbara, left behind by a faster and colder world, loneliness is a constant, unwelcome companion
How mindfulness helped me overcome loneliness in London
All the Lonely People: ‘I was holding my breath for the day that I returned to Ireland’
The Yes Woman: My mother is dying and I have never felt more alone
All the Lonely People: She must confront her own mortality and I must confront what my life will be like without her
Moving to Perth where I knew no one taught me how to not feel lonely
All the Lonely People: I was unhappy in Ireland, but I’ve been given an opportunity for a fresh start in Australia
‘The treatment for loneliness is first being aware of it’
Isolation affects people of all ages. If it is not dealt with, it can lead to serious physical and mental health problems
We’re home from the US ten years but still don’t feel settled
All the Lonely People: It is difficult to explain the isolation we feel living in rural Ireland. Should we move back to the US?
Tell Me About It: I have felt so alone since I separated from my husband
Everyone thinks I am flying, but I’m not. Living alone is hard
Kim Noble: ‘I don’t have a proper job. I don’t have a proper life’
All the Lonely People: The satirist’s new show, where nothing seems to be off limits, is riveting but so unethical you may have to watch it through splayed fingers
New to the Parish: ‘I didn’t know I was black until I came to Ireland’
All the Lonely People: After her mother died, Zeenie Summers moved to Ireland to stay with her father, but she fell into depression and homelessness before finding a new kind of family
Michael Harding: Isolation can overcome me like a great wave
All the Lonely People: It was one of those years that was going so well I thought I’d live forever. But then one day I got out of bed and the world had moved away from me
‘Homesickness was a better option than years on the dole at home’
All the Lonely People: Construction worker in Manchester who only sees his son twice a month
All the Lonely People: take the first steps to overcoming loneliness
All the Lonely People: The road to meaningful friendships is not easy and requires courage, perseverance and faith, writes Trish Murphy, our advice columnist
That’s Men: We all need a little company - without it we start to shrink
All the Lonely People: When it comes to connection, loneliness and belonging, it’s all about degrees, writes Padraig O'Morain
‘Never feeling catered for in clothes shops can be very lonely’
All the Lonely People: At 3ft 5in, shopping for clothes is a difficult experience, but my fashion blog and the improving options in small sizes have given me great confidence
How Charlie Bird relieved pitch-black isolation of new motherhood
All the Lonely People: My family and friends were ready, able and willing to help, but I didn’t know how to ask
‘My defence against loneliness was to quit looking back to Ireland’
All the Lonely People: Generation Emigration readers share their experiences of loneliness and homesickness abroad
Lonely People - your stories: “The kind of loneliness that makes my heart ache”
All the Lonely People: We asked readers to send in stories of their experiences with loneliness to lonelypeople@irishtimes.com. Here is a selection of the results
Living alone is less the exception, more the rule
All the Lonely People: It can be lonely being single, sure, but is there a way to refashion solitude less as misfortune and more a reluctance to settle for second-best?
Louise O’Neill: Being on my own allows me to remove my mask
All the Lonely People: I felt lonely when I decided I would conform to what society seemed to want for me
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