I backslide into that isolation easily...it's always going to be an effort for me to step away from my dark comfortable cocoon and into an uncertain situation, even if I may meet some awesome people out there.
But how I break out in those bad times is by asking myself these two questions:
What do you love? and Where would you meet other people who love that?
Example: Among other things, I list in my journal that I love walking in the forest, doing some kind of fun activity with my funny dog, listening to storytellers, growing my own food, saving money, writing, talking about really good books, cooking Thai food.
So I make a matching set of resources for finding kindred spirits who also love those things: The local rec center has a regular hiking get-together, for example. I play agility with my dog and it's hilarious, everybody laughs and laughs. A nature center about 10 miles away has rangers come in and tell stories of the wildlife there. I am part of the Simple Living Network online, where I can talk about food and being uber-frugal. And so on.
I reconnect with the world of people who are not broken apart like I am.
This was a slow process, worthy. I too had to take some time to heal. But I eventually had to put a time limit on it - because I knew that my tendency was going to be to stay there in my safe hidden nest, possibly forever. My damage was great. A counselor helped me to do this safely, in small safe increments.
Hoping everybody finds at least one new joy today.