I'm sometimes a misanthrope for this. I get embarrasesed at needs of our ego. My theory is that it should be satisfied in different spheres, beginning with family members. But the further out from there . . bread on the water.
Family and Friends should always be someone's first recourse for a sense of belonging, but I have come to realize that there are a lot of people out there who have lost their friends and their families have moved away. I would suggest we likely have a higher than normal representation of such people here, because many of us are old and no longer have people around us whom we can relate to.
I wish to give heart to these people, as do I think we all.