Techniques to overcome loneliness

This is an issue that I have been looking into for the past few months. Myself along with several other young deck officers working in our company are starting to experience the feelings of being alone while working at sea. It is not a nice feeling and I hope that if anyone ever feel like this that you are able to use some of these skills to switch out of it.
Just exactly how do you overcome those times when loneliness creeps up? My findings after a lot of research and study show that by writing a couple of lists of the things that you are good at, things you like to do and things that make you happy, you are then always able to refer back to these lists when you start to feel down.
Below is an extract from a couple of lists which I have written for myself this year:
WHAT I AM GOOD AT, MAKES ME HAPPY AND SOME OF THE THINGS THAT I LIKE TO DO:
Running and playing sports in a team, Talking to people, Living and working on a ship, Writing emails but better still receiving emails from friends, Driving ships (ship handling) Cooking meals for a group of people, Writing for my blogpage, Artwork, Cactus planting (gardening) Relaxing on the couch by the fire watching a movie with a good Mate, Socialising with friends in town, Living on a farm and listening to music. These are just some of the things which I can refer back to whenever I feel down and lonely on the ship. By feeding positive information into your system you can actually help change your mindset of the down hill spiral. Try it for yourself one day, you’ll be surprised at how writing these things down can change the way you feel.