You only need to take a stroll through the streets of any city to notice that our culture is oriented toward spending time with other people. There are no one-person cinemas, and you’d have a hard time finding a table for loners, though going solo at a restaurant is fortunately not prohibited. After the isolation of the pandemic, the value of family and friends shot up even more. Yet to maintain that crucial balance needed in this world, it’s worth remembering that you can reap many a benefit from enjoying the company of yourself. These are as follows:
1. Solitude inspires creativity
We are all creative beings, without exception. Yet in a group, you’ll always have that one person who is less creative and the other who is more. A group follows the strongest member and usually works together, to the detriment of individual needs. So it’s worth spending some time alone to engage in creative activity without any external influences. You don’t have to make marble sculptures or draw landscapes in charcoal right away. You can cook dinner or make a flower arrangement. Any activity that lets you create counts.
2. How can I solve a problem? Solo!
If you are struggling with a difficult issue or have some tough decisions to make, ask your family to leave the house for a bit. The best solutions come to you on their own, but only when there’s enough space around you. You will have more clarity in matters pertaining to your own expectations, and that will certainly make it easier for you to reach a decision. The right decision, of course.
3. Being alone boosts your self-confidence
Liberating yourself from the company of others also means liberating yourself from their opinions and expectations. The choices we make are often influenced by those other people whom we readily ask for advice in difficult moments. If we are deprived of such a possibility, the only thing we have left is to independently consider all the pros and cons. That way, we not only learn to rely on ourselves, but we can also inspire others to do the same and help them boost their own confidence.
4. Our brain, yearning for rest, longs for solitude
We live in a permanent state of overstimulation. Too much information, too many responsibilities, too many sounds, too much of everything. Whether we like it or not, we are being endlessly confronted with a constant flow of messages. Solitude allows us a moment of pause and some time to catch our breath. Solitude makes it easier to relax, and that always comes with a fringe benefit: a greater satisfaction with life.
5. Add solitude to your to-do list!
Even if you are conscientious and disciplined, running down your list of things to take care of will go more efficiently if you work alone—without the chit-chat breaks or irrelevant questions.
6. Solitude relieves stress
Although you may think that the problems of others are not a burden to you, listening to people’s complaints and grievances does affect your well-being. We are by no means urging you to become extremely selfish or rid yourself of all empathy, but we do wish to inform you that cutting yourself off from other people on occasion alleviates signs of stress and reduces anxiety levels.
7. Solitude boosts our productivity
Sharing your life with others brings with it the need to negotiate everything that is important for each individual. There is no relationship without compromise. Retreating into solitude, even for a moment, lets us reflect on what our initial dreams and plans were, and what it is that we really want in life. And that is quite important!
8. . . .
It’s hard to give this next benefit a short and catchy title. Spending time alone makes you more independent? A bit yes, by all means. But that’s not the point. If you devote attention to yourself in the same way you usually devote it to others, the side effect here may be an unexpected burst of self-love. In appreciation for the concern you show your own person, you just may develop a crush on yourself. And what’s wrong with that? We all love to love!
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