How much time alone is too much time alone?
You know that saying better alone than in bad company? If its not an american saying then that’s my rough translation of a Mexican one.

As I dive deeper into the spiritual world I notice that there are so many ways of loosing one’s energy. To become drained. Tired. And of course overwhelmed. Our energy according to yogic philosophy escapes us through our senses, as we take in images, sounds, smells, touch, we lose our energy. And it is true! Have you ever gone to a festival? A crowded farmers market? A shopping mall? And even if you did some walking and not much else, you come back home depleted and ready for bed. There is something to it.
But these days it feels like the more we become aware of how much need there is for us to take care of ourselves and spend time on our own. The line starts to become blurry from spending time alone to recharge, to becoming a hermit or; just being flakey to actually creating boundaries. We see thousands of memes encouraging us for a night in, staying home, relaxing in a bathtub, spending the night with our best friend Netflix. Or more than that just cancelling plans to preserve our energy. Because OBVIOUSLY we come first.
And we do. We definitely do. I am just wondering, have we become self-indulgent? Is being selfull tending towards selfish? This, if I may say, is a slippery slope.
In this past year, I have found myself, in the name of self care and preservation of my energy snoozing to wake up to the gym for a week straight, cancelling plans with loved ones, and missing out on some good old fun. So what is self care in reality? What can we actually do to take care of ourselves, our boundaries AND our energy? After some deep self reflection to answer that question I can only say that real self care looks like integrity and coherence. And that is the opposite of flakey.
Sorry to break it to ya! Yup! I am also talking straight at me… don’t worry. You are not alone here. There is something like too much time alone. And!!! Cancelling plans is NOT OK!!!!!! Honouring our word (or in the words of Don Miguel Ruiz, being impeccable with your word) is the highest form of self care we can offer ourselves. Every time we change plans for no reason, or just cause, we are losing brownie points in our self esteem board. And self care is measured by our capacity to love ourselves and respect our own plans. So we can go through this world walking with confidence,fully embodied.
So yeah! Those memes are great! And I might share them from time to time but cancelling plans to stay in, is not self care. Being assertive before committing to plans is. You are the only true owner of your time thats for sure. But discipline will always beat comfort in the self care world.
Love and light to you all.
