A few of my friends recently texted me or brought it up in our FaceTime, how difficult it was to be alone — to be physically by themselves. As an only child, this is kind of my area of expertise. I never had siblings to silently keep me company in a room, or talk to whenever I wanted to. So at first, it surprised me that there are grown adults who are uncomfortable being by themselves. But thinking about it, we have spent our whole lives being taught to make friends and to avoid being alone in public — and now all we do is be alone. No one prepared us for this. We can't even sit at a restaurant and eat a meal by ourselves without feeling awkward, how were we expected to conduct our entire life in one house?