We are all alone - accept and embrace it constructively

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and—in spite of True Romance stories—we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way.
I do not say lonely—at least, not all the time—but essentially, and finally, alone.
This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

Hunter S. Thompson

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My initial reaction is that, while superficially it may seem a bleak and anti-social message, ultimately, he's right.

Only I am ME.

And, while relationships with others are both necessary and enriching in many ways, the relationship with yourself is the one that truly decides the level of your inner contentedness*.

Requiring the approval of others before you can approve of yourself is emotional and psychological outsourcing.
Psychological cowardice even; and cowardice is shaming; and shame devours a little of our soul each time, unless we put it right.

Speak with others, work with others, play with others, discuss with others, learn from others, love others.
But you must come to terms with yourself for yourself, and within yourself, in order to gain the true benefits of these external interactions.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t listen, learn and evaluate while interacting with others.
Rather, that allowing the actions, words and opinions of others to be the main arbiter of how you view yourself, is ultimately unhealthy.

Only I am ME is an ultimate truth.

Embrace it to the full.

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* I try to shy away from using the word ‘happiness’.
It can mean different things to different people in differing situations, and not all are good. Some people are ‘happy’, when something bad happens to someone else, for example.
So I prefer the concept of contentment, as it speaks to me of a calm inner peace not endangered by overly emotional bias.