Alone time is a luxury. I crave being alone about 95% of the time. In my mind's eye I've got a 50 page list of things to do which I've been compiling since near infancy. It's a list of crossed off things (which I'm proud to have accomplished) as well as things I hope to accomplish. Nothing motivates me more than planning the next thing to do on my list. I view life mostly as opportunity and possibility. Even though I don't fit into society seamlessly, and others may see that as a drawback, for me it's just who I am. No need to pity me. I'm between 1/2 and 2/3 as well adjusted as an NT and fortunately I can learn what I want from them and ignore all the crud that isn't me. People will call me aloof and eccentric, and the few friends I've had admire that about me.
I like to nurture and be nurtured, but that has rarely worked out for me...i.e., relationships fail so I've focused on taking care of myself as well as I can. It is when I self-nurture and see that my basic needs are met that I am happiest with my life and more relaxed in my social encounters. Even so I have to work hard to overcome a natural and mutual toxicity with most people, an inborn tendency to both irritate and be irritated.
The thing that's happened as I matured was that I got to know myself better and got better at setting attainable goals. My long to-do list aren't really goals, but it's hard to define why they aren't. When NTs speak of goals they usually have an element to them that involves something like being a better person, like New Year's resolutions, losing weight, or something to do with making more money, getting married, having kids, etc. My list isn't like that. It's just a whole lot of things I'm extremely interested in. The fact that I know what I want makes me feel very fortunate.
When I was a child I wanted desperately to be accepted for who I was, and if that couldn't happen, then I tried to change so I would be more acceptable. In my youth I was terrified to be alone but I grew out of it. At 21, I was no longer afraid of being alone but wasn't craving it either, not yet. The older I got the more I wanted to just give up completely trying to get along with people.
After a lifetime of social failure, I've decided to set the bar very low for myself. At this point I have the very realistic and pragmatic goal of trying not to alienate my acquaintances. These are people like neighbors, store clerks, bank tellers, plumbers, car mechanics, etc. By going the extra mile to Not Alienate these people who indeed enable my life to function, it ensures that they won't have a truly bad experience with me. It's very hard for me to do this but so far I've found not only that I can do it, but that I've almost acquired a skill for small talk. Imagine that! It's taken years of dedication and patience but it's paid off quite nicely.
All my life I've hated small talk and had no talent for it whatsoever. So now that I'm almost as good as an NT at it (even though I still hate it, being better at it makes my life a whole lot easier), I'm not nearly so uncomfortable in social settings. And while in the beginning it was a huge deal, now it doesn't seem like that much of a sacrifice to make for 'normalcy'. haha.
I've set the bar quite low for myself and pleased with the results. You'd be surprised what can be accomplished if you're patient and content with small increments of improvement over an extended time period.