How do you spend your Sundays?

Sunday, and weekends generally can feel lonely to those now living alone.
Getting out for some fresh air may help, if you have a garden, if not then a walk or bus trip or car journey to somewhere nice?

Well, l do empathise, however you say you have plenty of family and friends at other times. I am on my own most days. My son and daughter both live a long way away and my two best friends died a couple of years ago. I've tried joining all sorts of clubs and organisations but l don't drive and so getting to places is a challenge. I must admit it is lonely, but l try to find something to do every day and l must admit I'd be lost without my little cat. Sending 💐

Thankyou all for your very interesting posts.

A lot of you regard Sunday as just another day- but for me it is the contrast with all the other days that gets me and maybe no one else feels this.

I can ring people in the week and they'll meet me for coffee, or I can go to the library or the shops. The bus services are reduced, so it takes longer to get anywhere. I don't tend to drive to places on my own as you always have to consider the parking...

It is just that I find Sundays a challenge because they bring into focus not having my immediate family near by, and other people are busy with their immediate families.

Maybe it is because the rest of the week is so different? Maybe I just have to suck it up and stop having Sunday pity parties...

I made a friend, who also lives alone, in a walking group, so we have a standing arrangement to walk together every Sunday morning. She is very set in her ways so we follow the same route each time, but enjoy the chat and put the world to rights!
I record ITV's 'Love your Weekend' with Alan Titchmarsh and the Archers omnibus so when I can't be in the garden in the afternoon I watch and listen, sometimes napping too!

I actually don't get lonely and enjoy my own company. I don't crave visits from my busy family. We keep in touch by phone and text and as long as I know they are all right I am content.

Usually I try to ‘keep Sunday special’, if anyone remembers that phrase. Three weeks out of four I go to church for the 9.15am service and once a month we sing Evensong at 6pm. I enjoy meeting up with my choir friends.
Traditionally we always had our main meal at 1pm on Sundays and mostly I still do that, though I no longer do a roast.. I might go for a short walk, then I listen to Choral Evensong at 3pm on Radio 3, then spend time on my laptop upstairs. I have a sandwich when I’m ready. TV, browsing or playing scrabble on my iPad fills the evening.
Unless there is a special event I don’t go out anywhere apart from church as it feels lonelier amongst families out together.
On special occasions I get invited to my son’s house for a meal, usually with his young adult children and his in-laws, quite a gathering. He is an excellent cook and makes the best Yorkshires.

Sunday for me has a totally different feel to the other days. It can make me feel quite sad. I remember a Hancock's Half Hour episode about a sunday...it could have been a wet sunday in East Cheam. Thats how I can feel. Or a "haven't done my homework and tomrrow is a school day " feel.
And my walking friend who loved walking anywhere died and no one has quite replaced her for ease of conversation and enjoyment of new places.

DH is in very poor health so my sundays and most other days are home based and rarher isolated. I never feel quite so isolated mon to sat. Sympathies to OP and others who find sunday difficult to fill.

I'm not alone on Sundays but mainly read. Occasionally go for a walk or a coffee, sometimes I've met working friends as a Sunday is their only day off. It is usually a quiet day for me.

I enjoy Sundays because they are normally uninterrupted and peaceful. I can watch television, or not, read or just potter. I didn’t like Sunday afternoons when I was a child, unless I went out. I didn’t mind going to church because I loved singing the hymns. Home was rather claustrophobic. My father invariably went to sleep in the sitting room, which irritated me unreasonably.

I'm on my own practically every day of the week including Sundays. I don't see a lot of family now, all busy and grandchildren doing their various activities too especially at weekends.

I know how you feel, however you do have lots of friends and family there for you in the week. I don't. Friends are either quite unwell, moved away or deceased, family are all at work in the week so don't see them often in the week either.

But I go for walks, often take the car off somewhere to walk in greenery. I love gardening and have a home to tend to, always something to see to. I enjoy [good] TV, read a lot, use the laptop, revive old pieces of furniture, actually enjoy shopping for food, cooking and new recipes. I've many interests.

It's ok, I like my own company, peace and quiet. I go with the weather a lot of the time. Sunday is no different to any other day for me really. Yesterday I went for an hour's walk in a local park, watched women's football on TV in the afternoon, pottered in the garden, new recipe for dinner, did some research on the computer, watched SUTC Bake Off and read more of a very good book. Boring for some but I was content.

I feel very lonely sometimes, but shake it off/keep my spirits up by reminding myself how free I am, how lucky to be in good health and able to indulge in my interests. Basically I accept that life has changed and go with it, there are innumerable things to do in life with our time and to fulfil us. We have to find resources within ourselves not depend on others.

I quite like Sundays. I see it as a peaceful day - no pressures to do anything. I did go to church for a bit but there were only half a dozen people in there - very nice people and friendly but felt it would take an age to be included. I read the papers and potter about and have a walk and do my own thing. Family pops in on occasion and sometimes we have a meal cooked for us which is lovely.

I’ve tried going back through older threads, because I’m sure something very similar was posted last year. There were lots of comments/opinions offered on it too.

Like others, I see Sunday as just another day - no better nor worse than the other six.

Church in the morning for me..it's like my family. Afternoons can feel either lonely or blissfully empty. So i do understand why people can dread them. Planning something to do ahead of time really helps xxxx. Take care

It wasn’t a Sunday but I can remember going for a walk one day after my divorce and feeling painfully aware that everyone but me was part of a family.It was over 20 years ago and yet it still remains vivid in my mind. Also how empty my house was. I know one day my son or daughter had been home to pick something up while I’d been out and as soon as I walked through the door the house had a different feel to it. An empty house is very empty. And a silent phone ( I still had a landline back then; still do in fact). Sundays, to me, are just another day in which I work on my cluttered house.

DH always goes out early for the papers. Sometimes we go up to DDs for coffeee, but this time of year we mostly garden or sit reading.

During the winter I go to morning Mass, as it is too dark after the nearest church's 6p.m. mass to cycle home safely. In summer I do go to the evening mass in the nearby church which has better acoustics and better organists.

Yes, Sundays can make you feel lonely, when you are alone, but I try to make mine different from weekdays, by not doing any gardening or housework, making an evening meal that is a little bit special, and either reading a book I like, or if the weather is good going out for a walk.

If I am really in a blue, lonely, missing-my-husband-mood (widowhood is a lonely path to tread) then I drop the no-housework rule and scrub floors, or turn out drawers. It is satisfying to look at the neat, clean result.

I live alone (with two dogs and two cats), Sundays are a day to stay home, get towels and bedding on the line, cut the grass, anything that means I don’t have to share the great outdoors with other people! Taking the dogs to the coast, the woods, the heath, is for weekdays when the masses aren’t there. My favourite days never include other people…. unless they’re my DGC, of course, and then I certainly don’t want their parents to waste their precious weekends seeing me!

I live alone with my Son, Daughter in law & Grandkids 10 minutes drive for them away! They both work. My DDiL works 2 jobs & my son works all hours in his. Kids are at school. So do not see them very often. Occasional txts to keep in touch. Week is ok as I can walk to the shops or just round the block to get some air. Sundays always difficult as see no one & hear from no one as friends I left behind when moving to be nearer to DS are with their family & other friends! So get very down & dispirited every Sunday. I do wake every day & say Thanks to whoever/whatever is out there that I am still here as I want to see my Grandchildren grow up much more!

After years of Sunday being spent preparing for the working week to follow I’m enjoying having it as a quiet day now.
Occasionally family visit on a Sunday but usually it is a day for pottering indoors or out at home.
I don’t go out unless I really need to - can do that when it is quieter during the week - and I certainly don’t try to drive anywhere if it’s a bank holiday weekend.

Breakfast is different at the weekend - toast, rather than the weekday cereal. And on Sunday I cook a meal at lunchtime; bread and cheese lunches for the rest of the week.

I've been a widow for a very long time so have got used to Sundays now. Not much different to other days. My DD and little GS visited yesterday so that was a lovely Sunday.
Any day they visit is lovely though.

I do understand about Sundays as I have felt them to be boring and lonely at times.

SillyNanny321

I live alone with my Son, Daughter in law & Grandkids 10 minutes drive for them away! They both work. My DDiL works 2 jobs & my son works all hours in his. Kids are at school. So do not see them very often. Occasional txts to keep in touch. Week is ok as I can walk to the shops or just round the block to get some air. Sundays always difficult as see no one & hear from no one as friends I left behind when moving to be nearer to DS are with their family & other friends! So get very down & dispirited every Sunday. I do wake every day & say Thanks to whoever/whatever is out there that I am still here as I want to see my Grandchildren grow up much more!

My daughter is 5 minutes drive away. I can’t remember the last time I saw her!

Cabbie21

Usually I try to ‘keep Sunday special’, if anyone remembers that phrase. Three weeks out of four I go to church for the 9.15am service and once a month we sing Evensong at 6pm. I enjoy meeting up with my choir friends.
Traditionally we always had our main meal at 1pm on Sundays and mostly I still do that, though I no longer do a roast.. I might go for a short walk, then I listen to Choral Evensong at 3pm on Radio 3, then spend time on my laptop upstairs. I have a sandwich when I’m ready. TV, browsing or playing scrabble on my iPad fills the evening.
Unless there is a special event I don’t go out anywhere apart from church as it feels lonelier amongst families out together.
On special occasions I get invited to my son’s house for a meal, usually with his young adult children and his in-laws, quite a gathering. He is an excellent cook and makes the best Yorkshires.

I do agree it can feel lonelier to watch family groups having fun together when going for a solitary walk.

I frequently find Sundays hard as they are very much “family days” and the days of them comng back to mum for Sunday dinner seem to have gone.
But what are you going to do about it as they come round with monotonous regularity.
Are you able to get out and about?
How about a train/bus/drive to a bigger town or city not too far away. Be a tourist. Go into churches, cathedrals, galleries or museums. Or browse the shops, have a coffee and slice of cake while you read a Sunday supplement?
I often go to the cinema on a Sunday afternoon (especially a local art house one where you can have a glass for wine and the average age is easily 60+ so you don’t feel strange)
I sometimes go out for a carvery lunch with a friend, also widowed
Or thers always Netflix, a “luxury” ready meal and a and a box of chocs.
You can’t change the day f the week but you can change how you approach it.

Work every Sunday 10-4 or until the last customer decides to leave the supermarket. We have to do either Saturday or Sunday, I work 16 hrs a week.

So Sundays for me are always taken care of.

I'm alone most week days but on a wknd there's a good chance I see family either Sunday lunch at theirs or mine. I really appreciate them spending time with me as they live very busy work and social life's. When I was working Sunday was the worst day of the week having to look forward to work and a mostly 'difficult' group of people.

I go to church, make lunch and nap. Then I read a book that has been sitting there forever - the pile is getting smaller at last - Me time. But more and more activities seem to be around on Sundays - park runs are popular, car boot sales.