Table of contents
- Negetive impacts of loneliness
- When solitude becomes beneficial
- What are the benefits of being alone?
- Conclusion
Not all of us understand that spending time with yourself is a luxury in this busy world. Being alone is far different from being lonely. Loneliness is when you suffer solitude but being alone can be a moment of pleasure.
When you are alone you can utilise this opportunity to unwind, reflect and be creative. Spending time with yourself can have many positive outcomes.Being alone is different from being lonely.
Loneliness is a suffering. We can be alone and miserable. We suffer loneliness when we are devoid of social and emotional needs.
Social loneliness is when we do get support from society ( peers, family, friends or colleagues).
Emotional loneliness is experienced when there is lack of intimacy between romantic partners or parents, children or family relations.
Loneliness can lead to stress and depression if left untreated for a longer period of time. Loneliness becomes problematic when you feel emptiness from within. Helplessness sweeps in making you feel unworthy and invaluable.
Negetive impacts of loneliness on
- Mental health: researches shows that loneliness can increase stress,anxiety. It can disturb your sleep cycles and also promote poor self- esteem. People suffering from such loneliness can take to self- isolation cutting themselves from the rest of the world.
- Physical health: isolation when not done out of choice can impact your body and mind severely. Depression and anxiety are it's most obvious symptoms. It can also lead to increased heart disease and strokes. You can also suffer Type 2 diabetes. Therefore it becomes extremely important to treat loneliness and not let it hamper your mind and body.
- Emotional health: when you are alone and not by choice you suffer your company. Many a times you suffer emotionally. It is advisable to cry and let all your emotions of anger, pain, suffering flow out. You will feel relieved after a while. You will also sleep better.
When solitude becomes beneficial
Not always people suffer being alone. Instead it can be taken as an opportunity to spend time with yourself. You can utilise these precious moments to revisit, reflect on your life. You can also indulge in activities like watching your favourite long awaited movie or reading that book which has been lying in your shelf since months or you can eat your favourite snack.
It looks difficult to slow down and take breaks in this busy schedule. But adding some quite moments to your routine will help you immensely in the long run.
Here are few things you can do when you next time find yourself alone. This will help you boost confidence and enjoy your own company.
- Visit a museum: it is a great way to spend time with yourself. You can enjoy your own company without bothering about others schedule, reaction while checking out things at the museum.
- Learn something new: this is very satisfying. You can join a group where they teach playing piano, or learn salsa, or you can join coocking class anything of your interest. You will feel different and exuberant.
Learning new things especially of your interest is a great way to uplift your mood. It is always rewarding to invest your time in doing something you like.
- Do some drawings: you need be an artist to draw. Just take a pen and paper and start scribbling. This will help you empty yourself mind. Drawing is a good way to bring out the hidden creativity.
- Meditate (deep breathing): when alone try to draw your attention on your breath. Observe quietly your inhalation and exhalation. Long deep breaths for atleast 10 minutes a day helps calm down monkey mind. This is the best way to rejuvenates yourself. It will bring clearity to you and boost your aura.
- Go to movies and dinner alone: spend lone some time. Watch movies of your interest,eat food that you like. Initially you may find it odd but with time you will start enjoying your own company. You will see you are able to enjoy your food, movie little more as now you are free from worries about others taste and opinions.
What are the benefits of being alone?
There are innumerous benefits of being alone. It is like a blessing in disguise. It is important to balance your loneliness time with social connections. Here are a few benefits to bring your attention the importance of being alone.
- Makes you creative:when you are alone you explore more. Then you are not concerned about others likes or dislikes giving you freedom to dig deep into your inner creativity. You are bothered about being judged if any thing not so good happens. You laugh at your mistakes and flaws. Your inner creativity develops only when you are not ready to make mistakes.
- You learn to priorities your intrest: when you are alone do not sit doing others work. Instead you choose to finish your own task first. When you revisit and reflect your past you can find out what matters most for your growth. You need to take the responsibility and keep your interest above others. This the only way to progress either in your office or around any other situation.
- Improves your concentration and memory: reflecting on things that has happened again and again helps see those details that has been missed earlier. You develop new insights about from the same incident. This is also a memory excercise for brain. It improves retention power of the brain. Focus also develops leading to improved concentration and enhanced memory.
- Gives you space: in this busy world where every minute is occupied with something or the other spending time alone is a blessing according to me. When you are all by yourself away from busy citylife and social media you can slow yourself down. Breath in and breathe out. Feel the air, water, nature around you.
When you have no targets to achieve, no deadlines to meet, no pressure to attend a meeting or give a presentation you can just be by yourself. Enjoy your company. When you give yourself some space it rejuvenates you from within.
- You become grateful: when you alone you realise how blessed you are to have so many advantages in life over others. You have healthy food to eat, fresh water to drink, plenty of oxygen to breathe. You wear the best of shoes, have parents to look after you and so many small and big advantages without which life would have been miserable. Thanking God for his blessings should be part of our daily routine. You should practice gratitude for every big and small things.
Besides all these you can also engage yourself into doing some service to the society. Research shows that we feel a sense of purpose when help others who are more vulnerable then us. Helping us makes us feel more empowered and worthy. You can provide some food to the nearby orphanage or donate blood once in a while or simply sit with a homeless poor and councel him about better living. These small gestures can go a long way to develop connections and sense of purpose to your life.
Conclusion
Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert little high- quality time every now and then would be good for your overall well- being. Lone time must be utilised for cultivating your passion, or digging deep with a view to know yourself better. You can also simply take to rest where you would only feel like relaxing pulling yourself away from this busy life.
Read more: Can Introverts become successful Leaders - Myths about Leadership Busted
Frequently asked questions :
Q.1. Is it normal to be OK with being alone?
It is perfectly alright to be alone especially when you enjoy doing things all by yourself. Being alone is not same as being lonely. When lonely makes you feel miserable but you can ofcourse be alone and happy as you enjoy the peace around you.
Q.2. How to stay strong alone?
To stay strong you can include some practice in your daily routine. First of all you need to stop comparing yourself with others. You should be bold and do new activities that boosts your confidence. You should join community where you can provide some service as a responsible citizen.
Q.3.Can I be happier alone?
Being alone can be a positive and enriching experience with right kind of mindset. It could be your loneliness time where you can enjoy your favourite activities without any distraction.
Read more:Benefits of journaling
