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sustaining an injury or living with a disability, these are alllife-changing situations that can throw you off kilter.We are also, increasingly, a generation of freelancers whowork from home and could go days without havinga conversation with a colleague – or anyone, for that matter.Gabriela Hersham, founder of London-based co-workingspace Huckletree (Huckletree.com), says: “Whether you’repart of a team of one or 50, it’s always possible to feel lonelyat work. Putting small businesses and clusters of freelanceindividuals all in the same place means you’ve got a lot morepeople going through the same thing and you’re able to bringthem together. We couple this with a something-for-everyone- but well-curated – events programme and an inspiringcommunal working area so that people are able to find respiteand solace in shared co-working spaces.” And that’s the thing about social interaction – the morewe are allowing ourselves to play out our lives in a digitalrealm, the more daunting real-life experiences can be, andit’s an issue that’s become a national one. The Jo CoxLoneliness Commission set out to highlight the scale ofloneliness across all parts of society. Created in memory ofthe West Yorkshire MP who was murdered in 2016, it runson the premise that “young or old, loneliness doesn’tdiscriminate”, recognising that the problem is widespread.And at the beginning of this year, Tracey Crouch MP (whoalso doubles up as minister for sport and civil society) wasappointed Britain’s very first minister for loneliness. Her role?To create a national strategy to combat solitude, acknowledgingthat feeling lonely doesn’t have to mean you’re alone – thereare plenty of people who are surrounded by loved ones andfamilies but who still feel isolated. The Great Get Together (Greatgettogether.org) isone of the commission’s celebrated events and is a goodstarting point to demonstrate how the issue is being tackled.In its second year, the nationwide event is taking place fromJune 22 to 24. Conjuring up the nostalgic spirit of jubileestreet parties, it’s a call to action for barbecues, garden parties,fêtes and bake-offs. It’s a positive manifesto bringing peopleand communities together throughout the country at a timewhen you might live next door to someone that you havenever even spoken to before. Mind (Mind.org.uk) is a mental-health charity that hasbeen working tirelessly and long championing methods tocounteract loneliness, with trained professionals on callto speak to when you’re craving a chat, and might just needsome advice. Its online directory is brimming with goodadvice on how to pick yourself up when you’re feeling down. And while nothing can substitute the help a therapist orcare worker can give, small things can make a big difference.It could be as simple as joining a regular exercise club (onewhere you attend at the same time and so are more likely tointeract with the same people week on week and makemeaningful connections), taking up an art class, volunteering,following up on meetings or saying yes to things you wouldn’tnormally. Making social interactions authentic and genuinerather than surface level is the key here. Put down the phone.Get out there and connect. For real. QThe morewe play outour lives in adigital realm,the moredauntingreal-lifeexperiencescan beloneliness. How can we not feel alone when our feeds consistof endless highlights of friends laughing, smiling together,but instead we’re scrolling from home on the sofa?” She isright, pre-social media (yes, there was such a time), if youweren’t invited somewhere, it’s highly likely that you’d neverhave known about it, or if you did, there wasn’t an endlessstream of images and live feeds broadcasting everything youwere missing out on. FOMO (fear of missing out), thatemotion that was practically nonexistent 10 years ago, is nowvery real and has become the perennial millennial conflictthat can easily lead to isolation. “Now that our connected livesplay out in real time through social media, it’s easier to feelmore left out, not wanted, not desired and alone,” says Jamie.This was one of the things that drove her to create a newwellness app, Happy Not Perfect (Happynotperfect.com).Designed to combat stress and loneliness, it is mindfulnessfor the millennials (think Headspace, but younger and cooler)dedicated to finding more emotional balance. It includesbreathing exercises, a positive-messaging forum and interactiveways to process emotions and redirect anxiety. She’s effectivelyturning our connectivity on its head and putting it to gooduse. “If you’ve been feeling lonely, it’s easy to fall intodepression, low self-esteem and confidence. The app is auseful tool to monitor your emotions and prevent spiralling.Taking steps to look after your mental wellbeing can be helpfulin building confidence back up and helping you to engagein real social interactions again.”But it’s not just youngsters on their phones and computerswho are most affected. Anyone who has relocated will knowthat you can live in the most vibrant city and yet never feelmore alone. A Time Out study in 2017 found London to bethe loneliest city in the world, and according to research bythe British Red Cross, more than 9 million people in the UKare often or always lonely. And you don’t have to move countriesto feel alone either. Any major life change can be a trigger: abreak-up, new job, big birthday, having a baby, a bereavement,123WELLNESS SPECIAL