Being without yourself

Tonight I realized I miss myself. I used to think loneliness was being by yourself, but I’ve learned that loneliness is being without yourself. There are people whose presence can make me feel lonely, and there are people whose absence can make me feel lonely if I’m not investing in myself when I am alone. If I spend my alone time thinking of others, and feeling all kinds of ways about others, I’m not really spending time with myself, am I? In that case, I’m feeling lonely when I’m alone. But it isn’t because I’m alone. It’s because I’m abandoning myself.