Dealing with loneliness in the United Arab Emirates

I can relate to the post and decided to participate as soon as I read it.
Many things come to my mind when trying to answer to the questions. There is a video about Dubai on youtube which perfectly describes how loneliness can easily overtake life in the UAE.

What are some potential factors that lead to loneliness when moving to the United Arab Emirates?
In the end, is all about the attitude people have towards socializing somewhere else. But first things first: busy schedules, little time to interact with people, different characters of people from different backgrounds and cultures.
Having said that, I have met some people who have an extraordinary ability to adapt to different situations regardless the place or the conditions. Maybe they are naturally gifted to put together a social life with little or no problem.


How do you deal with feelings of loneliness?
WARNING. The following answer reflects only my personal opinion.
It was not easy during the first 6 months. The learning curve was rather steep but finally I was able to get around things. Finding activities I feel passionate about (cooking, sports, music, etc) was a good move. I actually met some people from my own country and started to have a group of friends. Once I started, things just became easier.

Is it easy to expand or create a social network in the United Arab Emirates?
Hmmm…I would not say is difficult, but it can be challenging.

Are there any activities or events that encourage social meet ups and networking opportunities?
Oh yes! There are several meetup webpages and events that can help. Normally they go by type of activity.

Like the opinion. You, #James put it perfectly. Just wanted to add....It depends on what kind of friends(relationship) you are looking for.

Yes there are lot of funs and enjoyment available if your feeling alone

Hi how are you

All good , what about you

Ok i will be coming from a different perspective to answer this.

Loneliness in Dubai, just like any other place is based on individual experiences. But that being said, most if not all will agree with me that dealing with loneliness in Dubai (when not on vacation) is bound to come and when it does is really bad. And all most all this kind of feeling comes due to different factors. Which to me is

1.NO MONEY!
2. Workplace structure or politics

As sad as it is, it is the truth. Having money would indeed kill your loneliness in Dubai. You may disagree with me, but hear me out first. Money will bridge the gap of loneliness because, mostly when you come to Dubai is either you come for a vacation or for a job. Now once you come in purposely for a job, all you did find yourself doing is applying on the web and constantly walking around offices to push your luck in. At this point, all you did be thinking is getting a job, so loneliness will only hit you on the low, when you are on the way home and you see couples or friends talking to each other, cracking jokes and what not. 

But, this low point will change to a high as soon as you land a job and you now working 8am-6pm. And that is when my point of money comes in. How much are you making? How much are you saving? How much are you sending to family? How much are you spending on food and travel etc. Due to you trying to save, you tend to want to live a low key, hence your trips are to shopping malls and recreational facilities like The Dubai Fountain and that just makes you even more lost socially, cause during your walking you will see stuff you did like to pay and try or cafes you did like to sit or restaurants you did like eat, but can't do. I was asked a friend if he did been to the Dubai Miracle Garden and he told me, he has heard of it,  but can't just get enough to commute there. 

And this life style am describing here is a lifestyle of a common office employee earning at least 3000 AED. There are individuals in a more low class of jobs, such as labourers paid so little that leaving their accommodation unit provided by their company is just impossible. All one can do, is top up their phone to bundle internet data and call their loved ones where ever they are and crave for some love. Lets also put in mind that some of these workers are delayed in payment of their wages.

The question then is where is the money to meet up with someone? where is the money to go to the movies, play games, buy a T.V ( you don't even have your own room) etc. Dubai is an expensive place and so without the "fulus" ,feeling alone is something you sleep on.


2. Where you Work will also take a troil on you feeling alone or not. If you work with toxic colleagues who only share or talk to their own ethnicity and are not open minded. You did find yourself so much alone, you will have several days you did just want to calll it quits and resign. Favoritism and ethnic groups are highly practiced sometimes in workplaces which is very much not health. The question here is, if you can't make friends at work place in Dubai where else can you. All you can do is marry your work and that just leads to depression.


Overall, what i will say is- even though loneliness is based on individual circumstances. In dubai i have worked in a company where i was fortunate enough but i meet and saw people who were not, and had to deal with loneliness in different forms. That being said. I believe happiness is found within oneself and hence if ever one feels alone, try as much as possible to create a sort of happiness for yourself. Being it reading, home exercise, writing, telling jokes to friends, singing alone etc. do it and you will not feel alone.


Cheers!

Hello Pescilla,
It good oprtunity to share with my experience in UAE , but I like to inform you that I have two period living in UAE, one started from 1988 upper to 2014 then I left the country for 2 years then come back here again.
The first period was with my family , and the second period alone.
So which period you like me to share with?with best regards,

Husin

Get yourself occupied in some sports activity..... I play Badminton and it makes me feel so fresh, positive and happy.... If not then join some dance classes which are plenty in dubai.

Last but not the least... Get out of your comfort zone... There's a lot you can do.....

leaving alone can be difficult.. and ruins your valuable time specially place like Dubai.
i too shifted in dubai on job assingement month back and matter of week realise how thing could work ...apparently now i have few friends locally and we do reach each other in weekly intervals to spend  some time, gang up going out, chilling some place so forth and so on.
my take on loneliness- start engaging with ppl, take initiative to start discussion, be approachable, humble. show courtesy. this always worked for me.. and no reason why shouldn't work for most of us..jst keep antenna in +ve direction. hope soon u ill be sharing ur experiance with other..@ happy note😎.

Hi Priscilla,

Well it is a right question in the current life turmoil I'm passing through.
It has been a quite few months of unemployed status at current and seriously in jobhunt with unsuccessful resut till now in finding the right job.
As a result I had to repatriate my family back to India and absolutely running a lonely life being exhausted specially in this jobless condition.
How ever I make most of my evening time pleaaureful playing tennis with large tennis network here in Duba since 7 yearsi.
Certainly Dubai has all the possible ways to offer social network if we have really outgoing nature.
It can vary according to what kind of network you may choose like weekend gathering at parks for BBQ,Night Club partying,sports activities,musical and so on.Dubai is the outstanding city among Emirates for social network and to a great extend can overcome loneliness with various activities.

Regards,
Faizal Ali

i never felt lonely here  but romance is missing anyway