There's a reason Merlin is so grumpy in so many portrayals of the character. Imagine that you are compelled to solve problems, and that you loathe interacting

There's a reason Merlin is so grumpy in so many portrayals of the character. Imagine that you are compelled to solve problems, and that you loathe interacting with other human beings, and that you occasionally are lonely. That's why we have hermits, and that's why towns put up their hermits in a house about a mile away. You put them far enough away that they can't hear you enjoying yourself, but close enough so that you can bring them serious problems Which problems are serious? The ones that give everyone else nightmares trying to even think about — or at least are worth a 2 mile round trip walk and a picnic basket full of delicious food. Even grumpy old hermits get lonely for human company and variety in food sometimes. They just resent showing it because everyone will make a loud racket and give them hugs and eugh it's just the worst. Social media, the Internet, BBSes, these all allow satisfying the instinct for human connection without the awfulness of dealing with actual real people very much of the time. Finding a way to make that satisfying and net valuable to you and/or others is the hard work. It doesn't necessarily require giving it up, but it absolutely does require being honest with yourself about whether you're getting a payoff that's worth the price.