Crap...can someone fix the more inside for me? Thanks.

Time.

Also television. I simply don't watch television. I haven't turned on my television to a broadcast/cable show in about six months, for example. But after both my divorce and my most recent break-up a few years ago, I found that watching television did ease the loneliness and make the time pass more quickly. It's still not a panacea, though.

The important thing is to learn to not let yourself brood on it.

I really hate that immediate and intense loneliness many of us feel in situations like you're in. So you have my heartfelt sympathy.

Obviously, if possible you should find some friends, new or old, and get out and about. Not relationship-looking or dating, but just being active and around people. About seven months after my separation and soon to be certain divorce from my ex-wife, I moved to a new city, enrolled in a university I didn't really have much interest in attending, and made a brand-new set of friends and regained my social confidence. You don't have to move to a new town and change your life to do this, though. But that period was wonderfully restorative for me. Of course, I finally made the move after bottoming out, so things had to get better. And they did.

What kmellis said. I don't watch TV either; I don't even get any channels. I watched Buffy the Vampire slayer Seasons 1-6 when my long-term relationship fell apart. And by the end I was bored of it and yet out of the habit of a constant companion.

I also got a really mellow part time job of pulling weeds for 5 hours a week (up to 10), so now if I'm at loose ends I always know there's something productive I could be doing.

I also picked up some new hobbies (kayaking, hip hop classes at the Y). I looked around for new friends but to tell the truth I didn't really find any until just recently.

Now, a couple years later, I am a leery of getting into a new relationship because I can't figure out where I'd find the time to fit it in.

But it comes down to just time. So much of a relationship is the habit of having someone there.

I looooove being alone.

It will take time, and also it will take focusing on your interests. At this point, I relish the time to spend on things that really excite me, and there never seems to be enough. Things like reading, going to local events (art openings, shows, readings, meetings), starting new projects like blogs, writing, writing music, making a collage, doing house decorating projects, day tripping, etc. etc. etc. It's so wonderful to be able to focus on and fully enjoy things that really really grab you, without worrying how someone else will take it, or feels about it, or whether they're getting bored, or whether they're getting anything out of it.

I'd recommend two things: First, start perusing your local newspaper listings and try out different things - events, live music shows, club meetings, sport groups, dance groups, whatever. And second, make a list of things you've always wanted to learn, try, or do, and start researching them. You can even stay logged into IRC for handholding while you explore the first preliminary steps. Say you've always found ultimate frisbee or pottery interesting; use those as keywords, and run a search with the keyword and your city name or zip code. Get involved with people and with yourself. You'll never have a better time to discover who you are as a single being on earth. Enjoy yourself.

I also had a sweet but slightly dull constant companion for a long time until last year and I have thrown myself into my alone-time with a vengeance. I think about this question a lot actually.

I become an impeccable housekeeper. I read books. I cook food for later. I plan trips and vacations. I go swim at the pool. I write letters and postcards. I IM/IRC with friends. I call my family. I dust. I do seasonal stuff (plastic up windows, open up windows, etc). I invite people over for dinner. I go out to dinner. I take long baths and read in the tub. I make mix CDs for friends. I try on all my clothes and get rid of the ones that don't fit. I have porn-watching marathons. I go for walks with my camera. I go down to the store and buy moon pies. I drink and smoke. I move the furniture around. I plan for upcoming holidays. I do work. I upgrade my blogging software. I backtag on metafilter. I get documentaries from the library and watch them (recently: Show Cats, very weird). I look at flickr photos. I clean the tub. I make cinnamon toast. I read the magazines that are stacking up. I do sit-ups, or think about it. I backup my websites. I do maintenance on my laptops. I install ubuntu updates. I watch movies on YouTube. I make movies on YouTube. I reply to old emails. I link check old websites. I update my resume. I file receipts.

The stuff really splits into a few categories: busy work, self-improvement, communications, creativity. I find it's good to split it up between those things or you can burn out. My life alternates betwen periods of social emptiness and social glut, so any time I've got a lot of time alone I know it won't last so I try to treasure and enjoy it.

When I moved to a new city after a break up and didn't know a soul I forced myself to go out on my own. Saturday nights I would to a movie, or dinner, or whatever.

I joined a gym and worked out every evening after work. It was not only a good waste of at least an hour, it made me feel better about myself, and look great.

I volunteered, took cooking classes, you name it I've done it!

The point is that you just have to get yourself out of the house and around people!

I don't think what I do is that terribly different from the kinds of things I did when I had a boyfriend in residence. Some nights I take a class, some nights I teach one, occasionally there's a gig. I do laundry. I cook dinner and clean up afterward. I work out. I stand around outside and chat with my neighbors. I go for walks with my dog. Time difference permitting, I talk on the phone with some of my geographically dispersed family and friends. I write. I read. I putter around online. If I had a bathtub, I'd take baths. I miss having a bathtub.

I don't watch TV either.

I like what small_ruminant said about "the habit of having someone there." And I also like what jessamyn said about how "any time I've got a lot of time alone I know it won't last so I try to treasure and enjoy it."

You still need friends besides your grad boyfriend--there's nothing wrong with cultivating friendships. And grad school boyfriends suck--I was one. There are years of my kid's lives that are sort of a blur.

I have a bit of schizophrenic existence when it comes to this, because I am married, yet my husband is away from time to time, for as little as two or three days, or up to two or three months - so I sort of skip back and forth between all-ME time, and couples-time wherein you decide together when/what to eat and do, and work on projects together.

When I'm alone, I read a lot but watch very little TV. I write, make jewelry, do crafty things, a little gardening (if mostly potted plants can be called "gardening"), prettify the house, try new recipes, spend a lot of time on the internet (way too much, really), and take a lot of walks. I see friends, but I don't spend a lot of time with friends because it means usually planning in advance, and whenever I do that I often end up not feeling like going out at the planned time. I'm bad this way.

This summer was fairly miserable for me because I was alone (after having just moved to this city, so a lot of my usual "outside" activities and routines were not in place) and we had a horrendous heat wave that lasted the whole summer. Walking was pretty much out, and doing anything around the house was impossible without melting in about three minutes, and I didn't even have any work projects. Also, almost no money since we had a nasty bite from the friendly tax people. I mostly read for two months straight. Nice, but also... not. That would have been a great time to write a really bad novel, or learned transcendental meditation or something. :)

I think that the main thing is to actually grasp that you do have the time to do things... pretty much anything that strikes your fancy. There've probably been many ideas you've discarded in the past because you just couldn't fit them in, and thus became accustomed to the idea of spending time only in certain ways, so the first step is to simply look at your life with fresh eyes. Go browse the bookstores and look at all sorts of books and magazines for things that might appeal to you... restoring old furniture, yoga, dance, knitting, painting, photography, collage, gourmet cookery, tropical fish, herb gardening, pottery, hiking... anything! Go spend a really nice leisurely day strolling around a bookstore or two and browsing anything that catches your attention. Have a nice lunch and a glass of wine, make notes and jot down ideas... in the end you'll probably have too much to choose from!

(Can you sew, by the way? This is one of my most bitterly regretted non-skills. I just don't seem to have the knack for it, yet am constantly besieged by cool ideas for things to make... if only I weren't such a "black thumb" at sewing.)

I've learned to enjoy the time I spend on my own - and it's quite a lot of time, as I work from home two days a week.

There are a few things on TV I like to watch, which I never could when I was married, and it's such a pleasure to have the remote control to myself.

Also reading. I love to read and can lose myself in a book for hours. And as anyone can tell you, internet time is a whole different thing from real time. What seems like 20 minutes spent browsing the web is in fact 4 hours in earth time. Where did that time go?

You have an opportunity to do things you want to do, so work out what it is you enjoy doing, or would like to learn to do, and go for it.

I like having the TV on when I'm alone. Sometimes I actually watch it, but often I just turn it to a channel with no commercials, or throw in a DVD, and let the hum of voices go.

I live alone and when I don't have a date, or dinner with my sister, or pub night with my friends or anything else companionable to do, I sometimes get lonely. I usually take a walk through my busy city neighborhood. Even though I don't talk to strangers, I find the crush of humanity soothing. It actually reminds me that some nights, I need just me and my thoughts.

Or I bake. Baking keeps me from being lonely.

When I was finishing up at Emerson, I got into the habit of going to the movies every night; the Brattle would fill in the cracks of the first-runs---I had just been through the mill of the Bosie who was using me and didn't like being alone every night. In Iowa City I'd go to Writer's workshop parties (they would corral the students who had a big place to host parties for visiting writers) or go to the local writer's hangout; if I didn't want to drink I'd have seltzer.

If there's nothing interesting playing, I'll read for a while at a chain bookstore.

"How do you spend time alone without feeling lonely? ..."

I listen to jazz, and try to learn about it. This has become tremendously easier in the last decade, thanks to the march of technology.

Having a life long avocational interest is important, whether or not you're alone, at any given point. If you only feed your interests when you've "excess" time alone, you won't find them very interesting, over the course of your life.