“But you always look so happy,” I hear from across my vanilla latte at Starbucks. It’s a phrase I’ve heard a million times from a million different people; today, it’s coming from a friend at church.

“Just because I look happy doesn’t mean I am. And sometimes I am happy, but a lot of times, I’m lonely,” I reply; feeling vulnerable and a bit on the defensive.

Ah, the internal struggle of the introvert; needing time alone to recharge my batteries, but feeling terribly lonely at the same time.

This situation begs the question; “Can a person be happy and lonely at the same time?”

I consider myself a generally happy person. Not much in life gets me down. I am blessed to have a lot of good things in my life and I practice gratitude daily as a way to remind myself of all that I have.

But every…