Many people equate alone as loneliness. But it’s not the same thing. Being alone is physically not being with anyone, while being lonely is emotionally feeling detached with someone.
The feeling of not being cared for, not feeling loved is a state of loneliness. While I do not like the feeling of loneliness, I do enjoy being alone. My me time is extremely important for me admist the busy schedule of mine. The time spent alone allows me to take a break from the need to constantly socialize with someone, and to be my true self for that moment.
When I am in the mood, I go out by myself and even have meals on my own. Sometimes you may think that people find you weird dining alone in a restaurant. But really, more often than not, nobody really cares if you are there alone or not. Most people like you, are just out there to get a meal. I enjoy indulging in a meal on my own, and just focus on myself.
Many people are afraid of being alone because they are afraid of having nothing to do. But let me tell you, that is just an excuse. If I’m at home, I would either be blogging because that’s where my passion lies, or simply catching on my sleep. I may read a book, do a mask or even do some simple housekeeping chores. I spent a lot of time in my room when I’m home. There are so much things that you can do even when you are alone. Many people are afraid of being alone because they feel better when they are with someone else. The someone who would make them feel less lonely. So really, most of the time people are afraid of being lonely, not so much of being alone.
Being alone has many positive effects:
1. Slow down
On an everyday basis, I am always rushing to somewhere. Always. I rush to eat my meals, take the train and I rush to do my makeup. Even blogging has become a rushed affair when my weekends are planned with meetups and gatherings. Sometimes we do need a little bit of time to slow things down. If you see good articles on my blog, it is usually because I finally have the time to slow down and be with myself in my room.
2. Feel more rested
I am not saying that being with friends doesn’t make you relax. Sure it does, I’ve always enjoyed having friends around me because we can do so much together and they are the main reason why I don’t feel lonely. However, doing so much together can make one feel physically tired at the end of the day. If I have the time to be alone, I can spend half the day doing something I like while the other half of the day resting on my bed and be a couch potato. That’s definitely resting, physically.
3. Doing the things you like to do
Everyone needs a hobby or an interest. This is the time when you do not need to have the consent of others to do the things you like to do. You could be baking. You could be knitting. You could be drawing. You could be photographing. Or like me, you could be blogging, constantly churning interesting content for your readers. Whatever it is, the time spent alone is the time spent on your interest. It not only molds your character, allowing you to discover more about yourself, and also makes you a more interesting person to be with. You can also be a master of what you like to do and makes that an interesting point about you.
4. More independence
When you feel okay with solitude, you will start to feel that you are your own happiness. You do not have to rely on others to make you feel happy. You will realize you can actually do more things even without the company of someone. Always wanted to learn Korean, dancing and cooking? There’s no better time to start than now.
So my dear readers, start spending some me time now. :)
PS: Thought Bubbles is going to be a new category under “Musings”. The reason why I named it the thought bubbles is because thoughts are like bubbles. They are there but they can disappear quickly. Everyday, I think about so much things and if they are not penned down, they get chucked aside and be forgotten. So hopefully, in the future, I will be penning down the little thought bubbles that run through my mind every now and then.
