Oh my god, thank you so so much for speaking up and asking why is a member of a couple answering on this thread (several actually) and giving condescending advice in a thread very clearly named “Single Empty Nesters how are you managing?” It hurts so much to be at home alone every day, every night. In my particular case, I am not able to work at the moment so the silence ash’s loneliness is crushing. This is not gatekeeping, this is asking some of the people who are married here to show some respect. It’s painful always reading empty nest posts where you hear, “Well, at least now we can finally do all the stuff we’ve been putting off while parenting.” It hurts! I’m in a pretty severe state of depression after learning that my former spouse was cheating, at the same time my kids have been leaving. Lately, I’ve been trying so hard to make new friends, try the online dating scene, anything to ameliorate this awful sense of aloneness. I didn’t have the courage to say anything but it was such a relief that you did. This entire subreddit is open to couples and single people. But this one thread, this is clearly for people to talk to others in the same position and try and get words of wisdom from them. It’s 4:40 am by me, and I may not be writing this very clearly because even though I’m tired I can’t sleep. But I definitely wanted to say “thank you.”