Hi, I just joined... my second child (my baby) moved out two years ago and I am still struggling... ugh!! I've been lonely and sad and feel paralyzed in this new chapter in my life. I've brought it to both of my kids attention because I don't see them often, I am trying to remember that they are busy with their lives but I don't know how to move forward. I am ok if I have plans with a friend, but everyone has either kids at home or a partner. I recently read Diary of a Post-Single Mom by Karen Rutherford, which I enjoyed and laughed through... now I'm looking for more help books to keep me laughing... I'm not good about venturing out on y own to make new friends and that.

Im new here too, and my only child left two years ago, and i am also struggling. Some days it feels unbearable. Its a very scary thing to envision the rest of my life as this person i have become. I guess that is why i am here, looking for insight.

Hello all single mothers.
I am new here. Glad to find this forum. I have been raising my 3 children on my own for 30 years since my son was born. He has 2 elder sisters. My son is 29 this year and is still in school . My daughters are 31 and one is living on her own in the same town with me, her twin sister is in another state.
I myself is introvert so that does not help. There are days that I feel so empty. I can cry anytime. I try to stay busy but the loneliness is still there. At my age 59, it is not easy to find a male friend with the same interest and pace

Hello my message is missing the last part of it. Here is the continued part:
☹️ To go out with.
Yes, that is life. We raise our children to let them fly away when they are grown. If they come back, we know we did it right?? If they don't, we know at least we have tried our best and no regret.

I so get what you guys are saying. I'm a single mom and definitely my two daughters' primary parent, and I thought I had it under control - during their college years, I did pretty well at home alone. I guess it was because they always were home for holidays and summers. My younger daughter moved 10 hours away in December, and still I was fine. She was home for Easter and I visited for Spring Break and early summer. But in July it hit me - it's summer and no one is here. I didn't get it at first. I just thought I was depressed (and I have to admit I was obsessing over everything my younger daughter did -- ugh. I feel so dumb.) I've been depressed and sad before, but it never lasted for more than an hour or two. But this time it wouldn't go away. Over a month, and still I was this person I didn't like. I suspected empty nest, but I thought I had mastered that. Well, I didn't. And this is SO hard! I just apologized to my younger for being so clueless. And I'm trying to lean in to this pain, but I cry a lot. I always see myself as self reliant and independent, but I don't feel that way at all. And I try to stay busy too, but I don't want to and I still think about it all the time, even when I'm busy. The stuff I read is encouraging, though. I guess we just have to let ourselves grieve, like in any loss. The good news is that they're still there and we still have someone who loves us, even though we're in this alone......

I'm new and feeling this too. My daughter is 20, I have raised her alone since birth with very little help from my estranged family... it has always been me and her against the world... she is my life. I am so proud of her, today she left for her adventures overseas (from Australia to the U.K.)... I am in awe of her bravery and am excited for her.

BUT... I can't stop crying... my home is empty... I miss her so much already and can't see a way for this to stop... I can't imagine waking up, for the rest of my life, without her here... How do I go on? I look at my dog and grieve that he won't see her for at least 6 months and even then it will be fleeting... her toothbrush is gone! Her room is filled but so empty... how did it go past so fast?

I miss her so much and can't fathom a life without her here... I have never felt such grief.

I know it can seem silly to others... and I have no-one that I can reach out to but it is so real to me.

My daughter only left for Uni yesterday and already I'm a blubbering wreck, haven't slept for the last 3 days and keeping happy/smiley yesterday hurt like hell!! It has always been just the 2 of us against the world, no other family. I need to lift my spirits and be my normal "Always look on the bright side of life" person

Hi. Another single Mom, and might-as-well-be Empty Nester. My only child, my daughter just graduated high school in June. The day finally came I had been dreading. I was sometimes almost counting down the time I had left with her, before the rug got pulled out from underneath us. The routines we had, and company I always enjoyed having, all gone. Between school and work and her boyfriend with an apartment, I don't see her more than a few hours a week. While I'm grateful for the crumbs, I feel dysfunctional and like a displaced mom. I get really sad when I see little girls that remind me when my daughter was that age. I was a stay at home mom until my husband left us when my daughter was 8. I went to work full time and feel like I missed out on and had taken away from me, what I enjoyed the most, raising my daughter and having my own family to care for. It's tough to lose a marriage and now my daughter to the world. I know I have to let her go, which is probably why I'm so sad. I have friends but they are 20 years older than me, and not in the same place in life. Divorce manages to take away the ones you hung out with most. I do struggle to find friends that are single, or at the same stage as me. I really want a male companion, but I don't know where to begin. I feel so horribly lost and alone, like I have never felt in my life. It helps reading I'm not alone in with my feelings, but there's got to a way to get through this? I don't feel like I have any worth, I'm not needed and that's what's making me feel empty. I feel for each and every one of you who's postings I've, and even those I haven't. We're all feeling sad and missing our children.