I am an introvert but the isolation I experience is soul crushing. Half of it is location and culture, rural nowhere and no public transport. Half of it is poor

I am an introvert but the isolation I experience is soul crushing. Half of it is location and culture, rural nowhere and no public transport. Half of it is poor health. I am not here by choice and it's sapping my will each day. Living in a city and having people all around easily accessible you wasn't mentally exhausting for me as one would think, it was lovely and energizing. I'd love to be able to move back. But one can still be alone in a crowd. I recall an experience I had in a large city, a dense capital and no lack of people around. I knocked on an apartment door to meet up with someone but had gotten the number wrong. A lovely old woman answered the door in her nightgown. I apologised for my mistake and asked if she knew where the person I was looking for lived. She did not, but she invited me in for tea. I accepted and even thought she didn't speak English and my command of her language was poor, we had a human interaction that both of us needed. She was so incredibly alone there. You could tell by how she lived in this little 25 square meter flat and how things came pouring out of her to me, this stranger. We had our tea, I had my tour and saw the photos, and politely excused myself as I had "things to do". My life hadn't fully collapsed yet, and while I have always been empathetic and didn't rush out, I can't help but often think that I should have stayed longer, done more for her, gone back. I always intended to go back when I had more time, but shortly after my own life accelerated downhill and I never found the chance. It was many years ago and she was quite elderly then. I imagine she might have passed by now. But I often think of her and that little room and if by some magic I can get back there I will knock on that door. There are lonely people all around us.