The mere act of being alone with oneself can benefit your social relationships, improve your creativity and confidence, and help you regulate your emotions so that you can better deal with adverse situations.
The real question is, why should you find time to be alone with yourself?
Cultivating the sense of being alone and making the choice to be alone can help you:
- Develop who you are, your sense of self, and what your true interests are.
- Re-evaluate “filler” friendships : people you reach out to when you stay alone.
- Discover new ideas without having to worry about the opinions of others.
- Boost productivity, engagement with others and creativity.
Spending time alone can give you a chance to ensure there’s a purpose to all of your hustling and bustling. Quiet space provides an opportunity to think about your goals, your progress, and changes you want to make in your life. Solitude helps you know yourself.
How to spend time with yourself?
- Try not to be on your phone, it’s too big of a distraction.
- Treat yourself as you would treat others. Make space in your life and put in the time, even if it’s just spending 30 minutes a week reading at a café, walking in the park by yourself, having lunch alone, etc.
- Plan out something that you know that you will enjoy doing, maybe something that helps you feel more productive, or helps you be more relaxed.
- Journaling can be a great way of working through and evaluating your emotions.
- Always remember, you are your first choice.
Choosing to spend time doing things by yourself can have mental, emotional and social benefits, but the key to reaping those positive rewards comes from choosing to spend time alone.
In a culture where we often confuse being alone for loneliness, the ability to appreciate time by ourselves prevents us from processing the experience as a negative thing. In fact, getting better at identifying moments when we need solitude to recharge and reflect can help us better handle negative emotions and experiences, like stress and burnout.
Come on pal! Drink some water, stretch your body out, workout for 7 minutes, take a shower, gussy up, take your vitamins, eat breakfast, and of course read more Zuperly blogs! Let’s do this!
It’s been a while, so breathe, and don’t forget to smile.
Maansee Bakhrey
Content writer (Zuperly)
