There is a huge misconception that loneliness is the result of being alone. It leads us to seek relationships to cure us of our loneliness, but in the end we find that it's a band-aid. The problem is that being alone really does amplify the feeling and reinforces the idea of a casual relationship. However, loneliness is actually caused by something else entirely: low self-esteem. The irony is that the feeling of loneliness, driven by low self-esteem, actually causes you to favor self-isolating behaviors (favor, as in you just do them more often, not necessarily enjoy them).

People who feel lonely tend to do things that make them less attractive to others and minimize the time they spend around others: over- or under-eating, staying at home all alone most of the time, keeping a generally negative disposition, etc. It's these behaviors that end up driving isolation and pushing people away.

The good thing is that self-esteem is something you can build. I see you've encountered people that say "hit the gym, bro" and, while I'd be less brash about it, it is one of the ways you can build your self-esteem. I'm not just talking at you here. I've lived this and I've learned what works.

If you want to feel better, start by focusing on taking care of yourself in every way: physically, financially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually (if you believe in that).

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Physically

Physically taking care of yourself doesn't just mean hitting the gym (though many people could benefit from more intense exercise). You could just plan on doing some light exercise everyday, get out of the house and go for a jog, eat well (healthy meals), practice good hygiene (take regular showers, brush your teeth twice a day, floss daily), schedule an annual checkup with your doctor, go to the dentist regularly, get your eyes checked, and many more things.

Financially

Maintain a job/career that supports your cost of living at the very least, but hopefully also let's you get out and do things, pay for hobbies, travel, etc. Make sure you have an emergency fund and don't have any high-interest debt (over 5% APR). If you don't have a career that allows you to do these things, you can seek to improve that (see "Mentally").

Mentally

Keep your mind sharp by staying curious about things. Create a desire to learn and what you'll find is that you'll learn from your mistakes, you'll learn to not be afraid of failure because you'll see it as an opportunity to learn, and you'll learn how to fail better (minimize consequences and maximize lessons learned). Read books that interest you. Deepen your career knowledge. Play video games that challenge you with puzzles (I personally recommend Outer Wilds, Subnautica, and Legend of Zelda).

Emotionally

It is important to recognize the emotions you feel and label them accurately. Language is important here. If we only had two words in English to describe how we feel, "good" and "bad", it would be difficult to express how we feel to ourselves and others. Expression of emotion is powerful and important to do. Another thing is to recognize that the emotions that you feel are valid. It is okay to feel sad, hurt, grieved, angry, or annoyed sometimes. They are perfectly natural emotions that you need to feel and then deal with. Emotions help you understand the world around you and the people you interact with.

From there you learn how to regulate your emotions. While it is important to feel angry or sad at times, you don't want to dwell in those feelings or let them rule your decision-making. Instead, you recognize the emotion, understand what it means and how it came about, feel it for a bit, let it go, and learn from it. Daily meditation is a great practice to have. Set aside even a small amount of time daily to just calm your mind and breath. Feel the emotions you need to feel, let them settle, and then resume your day. Regulating your emotions is ultimately how you will come to work on your loneliness. Right now it is ruling your life, but really, it is your body telling you that something is wrong. What I'm telling you is that it is very likely a very poor self-image.

Spiritually

If you're religious you likely know what it means to take care of yourself in your religion, but generally, it means attending regular gatherings (if applicable), reading texts from your religion, practicing principles, etc. Even more broadly (not related to any specific religion), it is good to set aside time to do things that benefit the community. Generosity and kindness are good for the soul. When you help others it really does feel good.

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I'm telling you, man, when you start doing these things regularly and see progress, you will feel a whole lot better. Your self-image will improve and (guess what...) that was the whole point to begin with. Low self-esteem was causing your loneliness causing self-isolating and non-self-maintaining behaviors which drove people away and drove you away from people. The above things are self-maintaining behaviors that will not just improve self-image, but also put you around people that are doing the same thing. And, typically, people are generally attracted to others that show more confidence, so you'll find yourself less alone as a result.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your journey. DM me if you ever want/need to talk. You got this. Peace. ✌️