Dear Nicola, I have lots of friends, but I still experience ‘weekend loneliness’

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Dear Nicola,

I’m writing to you as a 31-year-old single woman living in London. From the outside my life looks very full – I have lots of friends and I thrive on being busy. However, the reality is that many of my friends have now moved out of the city to start families and settle down. While my friends who are still in London all have their own lives and in most cases, partners, which keeps them busy on the weekends. All this means that I am currently experiencing strong feelings of ‘weekend loneliness’.

I have found myself looking at the week ahead, and realising that I have emptier-than-I-would-like weekends. And when I do have plans scheduled, the majority of the time it is me who has instigated them (this is not all in my head, I promise!). This situation also means that when a friend cancels at the last minute, I feel at a loss and a tad resentful that they’ve left me in the lurch. I enjoy my own company and I’m not afraid to do things on my own – but there’s a limit to how much …