Well, there are clearly people who deal with being alone a lot better than others. I think I didn't express myself correctly: loneliness is clearly a bad thing, while being alone doesn't necessarily bring on loneliness. But you get the point.

I agree with your second statement. Nobody should be forced to endure any toxic situations and/or friendships and, in that case, being alone is probably a better option. Still, I can't quite muster the necessary courage to end it all with my friends. That's a weakness of mine. Problem is I don't have much of a chance of developing any new and meaningful friendship where I live since the biggest part of people here are... well, not very interesting, with limited tastes, rude and loud, and I don't like that. My best bet would probably be to find out strategies to deal with being alone in order to make solitude productive and positive, just like you said.