This cartoon, Snow Dope, by Dean Haspiel, is so so so wonderful. So deliciously lonely. He writes:

I realized that it was better to reject rote social banter to quell my fear of being alone and embrace solitude this holiday weekend.

If my time in New York had been like that, I’d still be there. Maybe it was – I remember a friend buying me a bottle of incredibly expensive artisanal bourbon (almost on the level of couture bourbon, or something) and us starting to drink it, and him having to explain to me that no, now I was this drunk, I could not just get back on the subway. He introduced me to the concept of the Brooklyn car service. If I had been able to never leave Brooklyn, and just stumble around being an artist with a part-time job, perhaps I would have found inspiration in that city. It was the twice-daily commute to the island that killed me, and the day job I had to hold down there to pay the rent and buy the booze. By the time I escaped, I was barely writing at all.

The problem with New York is Manhattan.
I think it would be perfectly liveable if you just stayed in the outer boroughs.