We are social animals. Close social ties are one of the biggest predictors of happiness.

I'll just leave this here[1]:

> The upshot of 50 years of happiness research is that the quantity and quality of a person's social connections—friendships, relationships with family members, closeness to neighbors, etc.—is so closely related to well-being and personal happiness the two can practically be equated.

1 - http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/post/happi...