My (m45) wife (f39) doesn’t want to socialise anymore. It’s been a gradual decline over the past 20 years, in part because of children and work. She used to be sociable, but gradually we’ve lost friends (including moving) and not made new ones. I have tried, but she isn’t interested, and it’s now at a stage where I feel very isolated. She doesn’t like hearing that, because she says I have her and the children. For her that’s enough. She now avoids other people wherever possible, and works from home. My work doesn’t bring any social contact.
For her other people make her exhausted. For me it’s the opposite and I need the social connections to feel grounded.
How do I navigate this?
She has said I can go out but that puts a burden on her to look after the children, and it’s a financial cost too. And I’d like to go out with her!
It’s also not easy to make friends at my age (I’m not into drinking it sport, and like good conversation).
tl;dr My wife doesn’t want to socialise and I need to have others around.