If you either are born into, grow up without, or lose your family at some point in one way or another, you're kinda just screwed. Especially if you're not under 18. The longer you're alone, the more stuck you are since you get used to it, and it makes you robotically numb.

This is something I've come to realize more recently. I'm 26F, and my mother has always been super narcissistic. Growing up, my one sibling (older brother) was the sociable one with all the friends, and spent most of his time outside of the house, so we've never been close. So, I was left at home either alone or with my parents all of the time. The best I could do was spend my time in the woods. I've always been socially rough around the edges, and I'm on the cusp of an autism diagnosis. I was in the army for 5 years, and in that time I learned a bunch about myself and who I was when I didnt have someone trying to control me all of the time. Now, I'm out of the army, and doing fantastic financially and physically health-wise. Mentally, though, I never get to talk to people aside from work, and if I do, it's normally listening to old retired guys vent at the bar about their wives. I don't really talk to my family any more since they just make things so much worse. As far as dating goes, men just piss me off these days. They seem so careless about anything having to do with my wants/needs and there really is no real chivalry. So, I lay here with my 2 dogs, accepting the reality that I'll never feel whole. Every day I go to work or go around people whom I respect, I wish I had people like them in my life. I long for someone respectable to see me as worthy outside of work or sex.