A prominent professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sherry Turkle, says that “the capacity for solitude makes the relationships with others more authentic.”
But what’s solitude in the first place, and why does being alone helps build a relationship with others?
Solitude is a key part of a healthy life, but it’s something that we don’t talk about very often. Solitude isn’t merely “being alone” or loneliness. It’s easy to think that spending time alone means being lonely or missing out on social events, but this isn’t true at all! In fact, spending time alone can help us become more self-aware and build resilience in our lives.
Solitude is the ability to be alone with your thoughts or with yourself
It’s a chance to reflect and contemplate but also an opportunity to get lost in your own world and truly enjoy the silence of being by yourself.
Solitude can be a very important part of life because it allows you to gain perspective on who you are as an individual–and how you relate to others around you.
On your own, you feel safe and secure. You can be who you really are without judgment
When you’re alone, it’s easier to be yourself. You can be creative and imaginative, honest with yourself, and kind to yourself.
You are safe from judgment or criticism by others. You don’t have to pretend that everything is okay when it isn’t; instead of pretending that everything is fine when it’s not, you can address the problem head-on and find a solution together with yourself.
Solitude provides a chance to reflect and contemplate. It allows you to pause before thinking of the next thing you need to do in order to accomplish something
This can be particularly helpful when attempting to solve problems or make decisions, as solitude gives us time away from distractions so that our brains have a better chance at solving them.
Being able to spend time alone will help you build resilience and become more self-aware
It’s important to have the ability to be alone with your thoughts and emotions because this is when we get to know ourselves better. When we’re alone, we don’t have any distractions or other people telling us how they think we should feel or what they think about the situation at hand. If someone else is around us, then it’s easy for them to influence our thoughts by saying something like “It’s okay” or “You’ll get through this.” But when we’re alone, there are no outside opinions; only yours matters!
Being able to spend time alone will help give you perspective on life in general because it allows for reflection: looking back over past events (good or bad) so that they don’t happen again; looking forward at future goals so they can be achieved successfully; evaluating current situations in order not only understand how they affect others but also how those same situations affect ourselves personally. All these things require some form of reflection which means staying away from others until a certain amount of clarity has been reached – otherwise known as solitude!
When we are able to spend time alone, it’s easier for us to connect with ourselves so that we can then connect with others in deeper ways
Being alone is a great opportunity for self-reflection, but it’s also an opportunity to be more honest with ourselves. When you are with others, and your guard is down, it can be hard for us to be honest about what we really want or need from them. Spending time alone allows us to take off our masks and get in touch with our true selves–the person we were meant to be before all of life’s distractions got in the way. This means that when we are able to spend time alone, it’s easier for us to connect with ourselves so that we can then connect with others in deeper ways.
The better we know ourselves, the better relationships we build with others
In order to be a good friend or even an effective leader, we need to understand ourselves. Knowing whom you help, you know what type of person you can be around and how they’ll respond to your behavior. It also helps with confidence when dealing with others because if someone doesn’t like us for who we are, then it’s probably not worth trying to change them anyway.
Knowledge about yourself is power! In fact, knowing yourself better than anyone else can help make relationships stronger between people. A big part of being alone is learning about yourself so that when someone comes along who understands what makes up your unique personality–it makes them want to stick around even more!
Being inward-focused creates a better understanding and connections to one’s own feelings and emotions. As the better we understand ourselves, we discover ourselves. This leads to deeper and greater personal growth and emotional regulation. We become better attuned inward and even develop peaceful mood.
Being alone also adds to the personal sense of autonomy and confidence. Then, once we are out in the social world, we become better communicators. The better we know about ourselves, the better we can read the emotions of others.
Ultimately, to enhance relationships with others, you must start from within.
