Life is all about sharing moments and surrounding yourself with the people who celebrate you, the people who love you. While this is still something to strive for, learning to be alone with yourself is one of the most underrated aspirations. Although being alone isn’t a competition, it’s important to be good at it, to like it.
All too often we’re caught up in finding others to complete our goals, satisfy us, and fill our hearts. We look to others for needs to be met because we don’t make the effort to look within ourselves.
So many people constantly want to be with others— eat with them, cry with them, laugh with them, which is all fine; however, I’ll let you in on a secret: sharing all those things and more are better knowing you can do them alone. You shouldn’t always be reliant on others company to make you feel a certain way or accomplish something. That only leaves you at a disadvantage, as you aren’t sure of what to do when it’s just you at the end of the day, or at any time of the day, really. Being honest, I believe at the end of the day, all you really have is yourself, so it’s something worth figuring out how to do. Being alone, I mean. If that’s not something you can live with— temporarily or not— I would highly recommend working on that; working on you, should we say.
Some say it’s lame or even selfish to spend time alone, but isn’t everyone’s goal to “find themselves?” To reach self-actualization? For how often that phrase is tossed around, it’s rarely worked on. How are we supposed to find ourselves while being surrounded by people all of the time?
Be alone, be selfish. Sometimes the only person worthy of spending time with you is you.
People are confused by the idea of being alone. Why be alone when you can be with others? Why? To explore your thoughts, your curiosities, your desires. To explore you in any way you want because you can. Not only that, but we can all admit a break from others is necessary, even if it’s just a few moments.
Being alone is easier said than done for some, typically those who find themselves constantly seeking out others for company for just about anything— the library, a trip to the store, a simple relaxing evening.
The best way to learn how to be alone is to just do it. Spend an evening to yourself, read a book, catch up on world issues, grab a coloring book, watch a show you’ve been meaning to watch. Hell, grab a cold beer because that’s company enough. It doesn’t matter what you do, what matters is that you have time to yourself. The world looks very different when its seen through just your eyes and heard through just your ears.
We don’t spend enough time with ourselves, so here’s to “me time” and here’s to “you time.” Enjoy it.
