How to Be Alone and Why
Time spent away from the influence of others allows us to explore and define who we are
The average adult spends about one-third of his or her waking time alone.
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow
How are you spending yours? Scrolling Facebook? Texting? Tweeting? Online shopping? The to-do list is endless.
But time isn’t.
Alone time is an invitation, a chance to do the things you’ve longed to do. You can read, code, paint, meditate, practice a language, or go for a stroll.
Alone, you can pick through sidewalk crates of used books without worrying you’re hijacking your companion’s afternoon or being judged for your lousy idea of a good time. You need not carry on polite conversation. You can go to a park. You can go to Paris.
You’d hardly be alone. From North America to South Korea more people are now living by themselves than ever before. Single-person households are projected to be the fastest-growing household profile globally from today to 2030, according to Euromonitor International. More people are dining solo. More are traveling alone — a lot more. From vacation rental companies to luxury tour operators, industry groups…
