being alone is weird/unnatural?

I recently vacationed in Nashville. No schedules, no alarms, no bedtimes, all we did was hang out all week. Honestly of all the vacations I've been on this was the most relaxing. It was probably because it was spent with friends just hanging, laughing as often and hard as I could, sharing life, having a few with no agenda. Even though there were few really serious conversations, this was an enriching experience of community. Sharing the experiences of everyday life together was a refreshing change from the daily grind. I realized, as always, coming home from vacation would be a bum out. This time it seemed worse.

I have a work schedule that is haphazard at best, I go in at 2:30 p.m. and don't leave until 11. By the time I get off of work most of my friends are headed home or soon will, this leaves little room for social contact in between the slats of my work. Needless to say it can get pretty lonely through the week, and the days following my return from vacation I felt this pretty acutely. I wondered why, because this was my usual schedule, and if anything after the break and extensive social contact it would be easier to go through the daily grind of solo hangs, but I found myself really missing my friends.

I realized that I had become used to my daily cycle of limited interaction with friends or family, because after a week of being with friends it felt strange and wrong to be alone. I am faced with the reality that my daily life has become a rather isolated thing, and I don't like it. I don't believe in that kind of living, and I want to be proactive about it before the memory of what it's like to have daily life with friends fades and I'm calloused once again. Stay tuned 'cause I'm probably headed for a job change in the near future.