Your social life is defined as “the activities you do with other people, for pleasure, when you are not working.” It’s important to have a social life, but what’s right for one person won’t be right for another. Some of us feel energised by spending lots of time with others, ¹______ some of us may feel drained, even if it’s doing something we enjoy.

This is why finding a ²______ in your social life is key. Spending too much time on your own, not ³______ others, can make you feel lonely and ⁴______. Loneliness is known to impact on your mental health and ⁵______ a low mood. Anyone can feel lonely at any time. This might be especially true if, ⁶______, you are working from home and you are ⁷______ on the usual social conversations that happen in an office. Other life changes can ⁸______ periods of loneliness too, such as retirement, changing jobs or becoming a parent.

It’s important to recognise these feelings of loneliness. There are ways to ⁹______ a social life, but it can feel overwhelming ¹⁰______. It’s a great idea to start by thinking about hobbies you enjoy. You can then find groups and activities related to those where you will be able to meet ¹¹______ people. There are groups aimed at new parents, at those who want to ¹²______ a new sport for the first time, or networking events for those in the same profession to meet up and ¹³______ ideas.

On the other hand, it’s ¹⁴______ possible to have too much of a social life. If you feel like you’re always doing something and there is never any ¹⁵______ in your calendar for downtime, you could suffer social burnout or social ¹⁶______. We all have our own social limit and it’s important to recognise when you’re feeling like it’s all too much. Low mood, low energy, irritability and trouble sleeping could all be ¹⁷______ of poor social health. Make sure you ¹⁸______ some time in your diary when you’re ¹⁹______ for socialising and use this time to relax, ²⁰______ and recover.