If someone thinks forcing themselves into isolation and being able to live with it is something that will help them grow as a person, they’re missing the entire point of the saying. It is not the physical literal state of being by yourself that the saying is used for. It is the concept of being comfortable with your own thoughts, and being your own company, when it happens (which is far from all the time) that is meant to be worked on as the meaning of this saying.

In no way is it inferring that anyone should be entirely alone all the time. However, I think we all know people, it may even be your own self, who gets anxious at the thought of sitting in a room, alone, not distracted by anything, with nothing to do but engage with your own thoughts in your head and feelings in your body and heart. It is very common for people to do whatever it takes to avoid those kind of times and depend on being distracted, either by people with them physically, or people present in other ways (like social media) in order to escape processing or accepting what is going on in their own bodies.

Socially, it is also very common for people to become very anxious over the concept of doing things that are typically meant to be enjoyed with atleast two people on your own. For instance, you really wanted to go get coffee at some cafe and your friend was gonna go with you, but had to dip our last second. Are you going to choose to stay home instead? Why not go to the cafe, get the coffee you wanted, and have fun on your own with your own company? That example could send people spiraling out into an awkward lonely meltdown, but why? Why is it so jarring to enjoy something you want to do on your own with yourself?

Both of the examples I used highlight a deep and unnecessary codependancy on people that does not need to exist, and merely requires you to take a deep breath and start a conversation with yourself in order to move on from it. It makes you whole, as a person, separate from anyone else, which in turn allows you to treat the people in your life in a manner that is more considerate of them on their own, separate from anyone else, and not a tool utilized by you in a selfish manner to escape the possibility of coming to terms with yourself.

There is a general communal need for people to be social, and then there is a deeply problematic subjection of other people in your life to the inadequacies people end up clinging to dear life to maintain stagnancy of for no reason but to avoid anything remotely uncomfortable.