I was the opposite. I LOVE being alone. It's being with people that is unnatural to me.
I had to create a plan to slowly acclimate myself to putting myself on stage, by actually putting myself on stage. So many people now comment on how relaxed I look when I'm doing a presentation - it didn't come easy for me, but it did.
You can be alone without being lonely. There's a huge difference.
Wanting people to like you? That's perfectly natural. However, at the end of the day, I'd rather be respected than liked. Once I came to that conclusion, life became easier. I fortunately found a group of women who pretty much feel the same way. A good number of them are single and are just perfectly hunky dory fine with that.
Small steps forward are way better than big steps backward.