Solitude is not something you retreat into, it is where you go to find out what you think. Time alone returns you to yourself in a way that company, however good, does not.
People occasionally read this as distance. Some of them are not entirely wrong — it is easier to stay in the quiet than to come back out, and you have let a few things drift because coming back required effort.
The Hermit carries a lamp. He is not hiding; he is looking, and the light is meant to be seen from a distance. What you work out alone is worth bringing back.