Emptiness and Loneliness

I keep feeling empty and lonely despite having family and friends. I keep longing for something to make me feel whole. I told one of my closest friends about it this past Saturday and she said "You might not realize it now, but it's possible that it's actually yourself that you're yearning for". I slowly nodded my head as I pondered. She could be right even if I don't see it myself. I'm guessing when you've come to a point where you feel safe and comfortable within yourself, you wouldn't be feeling so empty but rather content with life as it is.

... I continued the pondering and proceeded to tell her "When it comes to loneliness, maybe I'm feeling lonely because I don't feel like anyone actually sees me, who I am and what I'm actually like?" Whenever I meet a person I can't really be myself fully. I know it's the same for probably a lot of people but I don't know... I don't have any problems sharing my problems or any other personal deep stories, so it's not like I have troubles sharing. I can share however much I want; it doesn't matter how deep the stories go. It's just that everything that comes out of my mouth just feels like mere words and sentences. Even if they are very personal, it's not really like I actually open up the emotional doors to my inner space. It feels like everyone is standing outside of these doors and that a lot of them aren't aware of it themselves; They think they've been let in when in reality I still haven't allowed them to enter. It feels like I'm closer with people than they are with me (but then again, maybe it's the same for them as it is with me? that I might be thinking that I'm getting closer to their inner space when I'm actually quite far away from it?). It doesn't matter how much I want to be able to open myself up in the emotional and deeper sense because I don't know how to. The only way I can think of is sharing all sorts of personal stories but everything just feels empty, like there is no weight to it. It's as if I'm just sharing information and nothing more than that. I wish people could actually see me; How I'm like, how I move, how I react to things, how I speak, how I joke, everything about me when I'm comfortable. Not saying that I want people to be attentive to me but more like I wish people could see me and not the person I subconsciously portray. As it is now with social interactions, I always limit myself. It's like I'm following these subconscious guidelines or rules as to how I should act around people. In all honesty, not even my family knows me, but this is due to another reason.