I find I try to distract myself, either by doing stuff aorund my place or coming on-line here or to another board I go to. Virtual friends are better than no friends. I have very few friends IRL, but I'm trying to be more outgoing and reach out to people I'm meeting in AA. I go to AA meetings. I know a lot of my loneliness is self inflicted. I'm so afraid of rejection that I'll push people away, but I'm trying to be aware of that behaviour and act differently. I'm really shy which doesn't help but i've started forcing myself to go to my professional association's events. I usually learn something interesting from the speakers and it's a good chance for me to practice social skills.

The most important thing I have to remember is that being lonely doesn't make me a bad person.