Solitude

Hey readers, happy new year and welcome to another training session. Today we are going to take a dive into solitude and why it is necessary. Often when you’re in a crowded noisy room, you can barely hear yourself talk let alone think. If you can’t hear yourself talk then how would you know what your own voice sounds like? Hearing your own voice is important for several reasons but an important reason is that you’re the one who lives with all of the decisions that YOU make. It is imperative that you know this so you don’t end up making decisions that you never wanted to make in the first place.

People will give you all kinds of advice but when will you be able to listen to yourself and hear your own voice? Best time to know yourself is in solitude and no, it is not isolation. There is a big difference between solitude and isolation. Solitude is more about taking a break, reconnecting with basic human needs and cutting out the rest of the noise. Isolation on the other hand, is not having access to people and feeling deserted from people. Some people fear being by themselves because they don’t want to be alone with their own thoughts. There was even a survey taken that said that more people would rather take an electric shock than sit with their own thoughts. I don’t know about you all reading this but that statistic was alarming. I think that our access to so much information and opinions online are causing us to have thoughts that aren’t even our own. Hence the reason why people don’t want to sit with their own thoughts in solitude. Having so many thoughts that you think are yours but not can be overwhelming, however, one of the best ways to get back to thoughts that are yours is to disconnect in solitude.

Sometimes you need to separate yourself a bit in order to hear yourself clearly. That doesn’t mean just physical solitude but digital as well. Being on social media all the time can become overwhelming with all the different opinions and can be detrimental not only to your mental health but to your growth as a human. Give yourself time to unplug from society and the latest trends. Before you know it, you won’t even desire to be online as much or if you still have the desire, the level of seriousness that you take it probably won’t be as high as before. The more time you spend in solitude, the better your stress management will be. This makes sense because this forces you to sit and deal with the stress rather than getting lost within the crowd of many people. Studies have even shown that people who enjoy alone time experience less symptoms of depression. No matter how extroverted you think one is, almost everyone needs some levels of solitude to relax and unwind.

Here are some of the benefits of being in solitude.

1. You’re able to hear yourself more When you sit back and no one is around you. You’re able to figure out what it is you actually want out of life.
   

2. Sparks Creativity It is difficult to be creative in noisy/chaotic environments. Some of the best ideas often come to you when you’re relaxing at home alone.
   

3. Makes your own interests a priority Solitude allows you to focus on your own plans/interests because you’re not around other people making their own requests to you.
   

4. Develop a deeper understanding of who you are. The more you understand who you are, the more you’ll do things that interest you and also want to be around those who make you feel good.
   

5. Makes room for honesty Learning to be alone allows you to not be afraid of being alone as well as learning how to be brave and honest with how things currently are in life.

Thank you all for reading this and I hope you can practice solitude in your life to figure out what it is you actually want.

Until Next Time,

E. Ibadin