Learning How to Be Alone
My experience
Many of us go throughout life growing up to love the people we meet. We all have different journeys to get to where we need to be. Being alone is something that not a lot of people are used to.
It’s not always easy to let go and spend your spare time with yourself, especially when you’re so used to living life with the opinion of others. Being alone isn’t for everyone, but it sure gives you the freedom to look for other interests that your friends may not have.
About 2–3 years ago, I moved to a different state. I was a teenager, so I didn’t have a voice in what I wanted to do. Moving was a big change for me, especially being in another state.
I remember feeling excited, it felt like a new journey for me. I imagined when going into high school I was going to make a bunch of friends and hang out with them in my free time.
That wasn’t the case, people weren’t all the nicest. Yeah, I made a few friends, but they were older and were focused much more on their futures.
On the weekends and holidays, I was spending time being alone and finding what I liked. It made me go through a phase where I was self-reflecting on my past experiences, which is something I didn’t do before in my home state.
I got more into social media, writing, and photography. I was starting to find things that caught my interest that I wasn’t paying much attention to before.
Being surrounded by so many friends back in my home state only made me think about hanging out, unnecessary drama, and how the next day would be.
It made me not have space to think. I was constantly interested in the life of others and not my own.
Moving was a blessing and a curse for me. A blessing because I learned that being alone gives you time for yourself and to find what you like the most. A curse because I felt sad not to have others there to spend time with on my bad days.
Furthermore, being alone can only be described as a skill that some people can master. Learning to be alone is all about taking up to 15–20 minutes of your day to think about what finds you the most joy.
Going into your room and just listening to music alone, dancing is a way to express yourself, to feel freer, to feel yourself.
Journaling helped my thoughts become less crowded. I learned it’s important to have a creative outlet while being alone.
You find out more about yourself. Although it’s not always easy being alone, it’s comforting to know when your friends are not there, you always have yourself.
Thank you to the New Writers Welcome publication for allowing me to have a platform for my writing.
