I've been single for all but 5 years of my adult (>20) life. After my 5-year relationship ended, I tried the dating scene for 2-3 years, but it's a lot of work

I've been single for all but 5 years of my adult (>20) life. After my 5-year relationship ended, I tried the dating scene for 2-3 years, but it's a lot of work for a gay introvert, and I decided that the effort-to-reward was not worth it for me personally and haven't dated for a long time. Am I completely happy with this? No. But I don't know any couples who are completely happy either. For me, it's like 2 sides of the same coin: I'm happy most of the time, unhappy sometimes. And I think it would be the same if I was in a relationship. A big difference is, if I notice I'm unhappy, usually lonesome, it's easy to fix by getting involved in some activity with friends, family or just by myself, like taking a walk outside. But when I was in a relationship, being unhappy, usually because of some relationship issue, was more like misery. And because this other person is part of the unhappiness, it's very difficult/impossible to solve on my own. We were living together, so it's not easy to ignore the issue: it's in your face all the time. Another way I look at it is having a life with highs and lows vs a life that's more "even", without a lot of ups and downs. To some people, a life without highs and lows may be boring. Or, it can be viewed as basically content. I do think there's a big difference between never having had a relationship of any kind, and having had one and deciding it's not your thing. Before I was in a relationship, I felt like an alien: everyone around me was dating or in a relationship and I had no idea what that was like. It made me feel defective and isolated from everyone, and I'm not sure that would have gotten better with time. So I'm glad I did get to experience love in a relationship, but as we were both pretty miserable by the end of it, I'm not sorry it ended. We are still friends and still talk/text occasionally.