The Importance being Alone

Society tends to place judgements on Introverts or "antisocial" people who savor their alone time. Yet alone time is how you establish who you are, without time to reflect we would not be able to fully understand who we are without others. So although through grade school and beyond we have always felt judged when sitting alone instead of socializing, we can now feel wise for honoring ourselves instead of falling into the trap of shallow "popularity", The idea that having many friends is so essential that we must go along with whatever they do and say. These kind of relationships are not genuine anyway, they are merely for appearance which spirals into a black hole of constantly worrying what others think about you. School can be an unrelenting place, sadly it is where we develop into who we are. So the point is, we must teach our youth that alone time is okay and necessary, it is a courageous act of self love. And teaching our youth self love is the most important lesson we can give. If they grow up being able to go to dinner alone, going to a coffee shop to read and even learn how to meditate we know we have succeeded. Of course it is important and necessary to have loved ones in your life but as the saying goes you cannot love others until you love yourself, so lets start with ourselves and go inward instead of being constantly distracted by the outside world. The truth that we are seeking is not in the external environment but within ourselves. So, the next time someone calls you an introvert be proud, that you are wise and brave enough to discover who you truly are without the influence of others.

There is so much to learn being on your own, when you follow your intuition and passions you will take yourself where you really need to go in life. For instance I always knew deep down I wanted to be a writer and once I reflected on my fears and what is holding me back, I began to overcome them and I may have started small with a blog but it's a big step for me. I wouldn't have been able to make that decision if I ignored my intuition and just began a normal office job like society expected of me. Instead, everyday I reach towards my goals of being an environmental journalist traveling the world, far from a conventional job that would leave me uninspired and depressed. If we all just listened to our intuitions we would have a lot more creativity, new ideas and important change in the world. Trust yourself because it will always lead you on the path you need to go, don't rely on others to tell you.