Solitude is The Ultimate Teacher

Solitude is one of those funny words that means alone but not lonely, indicating the choice behind the action.

Solitude is how I have spent most of my time lately, and here I share my experience. Being alone truly does not mean being lonely. No matter how cliché, loneliness is a deep feeling of being misunderstood and not seen. Being alone is a conscious choice to get to know our souls.

Some grew up as the black sheep of the family; others were bullied and now fear being seen. But being alone can be a gift. We all have a void we try to run from in different ways.

Being in solitude can be an escape mechanism or a tool for self-awareness and the opposite of escaping.

It all depends on the person and their fears. In my life, I have always believed that I should be different, that the way I am will get me ridiculed, rejected, and abandoned.

Being alone has always been my safe space, and it never made me feel lonely until I sat with myself deliberately and noticed the thoughts I was thinking.

Whatever I did, I thought that I should do something different. I could see how my beliefs had been pushing me into a corner.

There was a lightbulb moment where I realized that I was the one thinking I should be different; everyone else is simply a mirror of that belief. In this solitude, I then chose to accept all parts of me, as much as I could with the awareness I had.

The second thing I learned is how much value we put on productivity, and how much we only think we are worth something if we do something. And I don't always want to do something; hell, most of the time, I am happy with doing as little as possible.

It felt freeing to understand that I could sit here alone forever and not be attached to anything at all, and the world would still be spinning. It might sound strange, but I felt the pressure ease up, and it created more space for the things I wanted to create in life out of love for freedom and life, not out of searching for validation from the world.

And for the first time, I let that be okay. It won't be forever, but I let myself off the hook. There is a time for movement and a time for contemplation.

The third lesson was how we truly are the ones in our way, and how much we live life on autopilot without reflecting on whether it feels right or wrong for us. It is astonishing how little we truly know ourselves, and most times we won't know until it slaps us in the face.

Living life without conscious awareness makes it easy to slip into victim mode.

Living life without conscious awareness makes it easy to slip into victim mode. It feels like life happens to us and that we have no control. In a way, this is still true; we don't have the control we wish we did most of the time.

There is a difference between feeling empowered and knowing what we can control and wanting to control things out of fear of being controlled instead.

One thing true solitude made me see was the intention behind my decisions, my words, and my actions.

Some were out of love and life, others out of fear. Acceptance is a healthy foundation. Becoming aware of ourselves is not a fun process per se. It is uncomfortable most of the time, but it also creates so much space for peace. It allows us to accept what is.

The last lesson I learned was that even though solitude feels good, it's not something I want to dwell in forever. It is something we can always make room for when needed. But the key is finding people that respect our values and share them. To make room for intimacy and still be able to have our own time but in the company of someone special.

Not everyone will understand us, and some things in life are not as important as we think.

Find time to create healthy solitude to contemplate and reflect on things, to gain maturity and a better grasp of the life we are living.

Solitude is empowering when it's not used as an escape from relationships. The key is to see our own power in choosing what is best for us and how much power we have in our choices. It's the perfect opportunity to connect to our soul and our essence and integrate more peace into our being. Then it's time to share it. Because sharing is caring, right?