-have you thought about doing something else - maybe volunteering -or learning -maybe a college night class near you or online - future learn do free taster courses and i have done a lot of those - not because i,m thinking about a career change i,m too old for that and its not going to get you qualifications at free level - but more for interest and to combat those empty evenings when there is nothing to even think about. The different courses mean you can pick and chose - if you start one and its not for you then nothing is lost you can move on to something else - they dont require much time commitment - short courses 3-8 weeks and the time varys from 2-6 hours a week - but of course also by how much a course might interest you. - it could be as many hours as you chose to make it -
Most of it is student to student conversation too -so you get to meet people online but from all over the world all ages all walks of life - and unlike social media no trolls, no offensive bheaviour.
At first i was just randomly picking things i thought was mildly interesting but after a while found there was a connection between them which lead to me then being able to help a charity close to my heart in a way i hadnt thought of before.
Maybe there are other things that appeal walking groups etc.I,m not a joiner. have a lot of social anxiety and live somewhere that has little to offer - i,m not even old enough for over 60,s dominos club yet - so online courses work well for me.
When i comes to dating - if you re doing an activity which interests you, then you are in contact with other people who have the same interests -you gain a new circle of friends -and maybe you will meet some-one through that in time - or maybe you will find friendship is more important right now - but my feeling is, with dating sites - grief and the lonliness that comes from it, could lead to dating for the wrong reasons and therefore the wrong person for you, and also perhaps not fair on them because while while grief is so new and so dominant in our lives we are not really our old selves or the people we might become - if that makes sense.