Experiencing loneliness at university

This week is Loneliness Awareness Week and it feels important to speak honestly about something that’s easy to hide but hard to live with. There were weeks when I’d sit in my room for hours on end. Not studying. Not resting. Just… existing.
I avoided eye contact. I avoided hallways. Even the sound of laughter in the kitchen made me tense up.

I could be in a room with twenty other students and still feel completely invisible.

I’d sit quietly, pretending to scroll on my phone so no one would see how out of place I felt.
I’d eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner alone - not because I wanted to, but because the thought of starting a conversation felt like climbing a mountain.

And the worst part? I couldn’t explain it.

I didn’t feel sad all the time, so I thought, This is different to depression, right?

But something still felt… heavy. Dull. Empty.

Being around people didn’t always help — in fact, at times, it made the loneliness feel even more isolating.

There’s still a stigma around loneliness, like it’s something to be ashamed of. Even when those around me admitted they felt lonely too, no one really knew how to talk about it — let alone how to support each other through it.

There’s also this common misconception that loneliness only affects a certain group — often the elderly.

But in reality, it can affect anyone. And more often than not, it’s young people who are feeling it the most.

Eventually, I saw my student counsellor. I remember saying, “I don’t know what this feeling is — I just know I don’t want to feel it anymore.” That’s when we started talking about loneliness. And not the kind of loneliness that goes away when you're in a crowd. This was deeper — like a constant hum in the background of everything I did.

Being estranged meant I didn’t have the safety net a lot of students rely on.

No parents to call. No family to visit. No one to remind me I mattered.
And being first-generation meant I was navigating university totally blind - no guidance, no lived advice. So when I felt lonely, it wasn’t just social — it felt like I was cut off from every kind of support system.

What helped me begin to cope was naming it. Saying out loud: I am lonely.
And then something shifted.

I started researching - looking for anything to prove I wasn’t the only one.

That’s when I found that nearly 2 million young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK report feeling lonely, a number that’s rising, especially among university students.

That number stopped me. Because I realised loneliness doesn’t look like what you think it does — and I wasn’t broken. I was part of something bigger.

Loneliness Awareness Week is here to challenge the stigma. To remind us that loneliness isn’t weakness - it’s human. And it can happen even when you’re doing all the “right” things — going to uni, joining societies, showing up.

So if you're feeling it now, please know:
You are not alone. There is nothing wrong with you. You deserve support, connection, and understanding - not just during this week, but every week.

So let’s talk about it. Let’s check in with each other. And most of all — let’s remind ourselves that we belong here, even on the days it doesn’t feel that way.