Nice to Meet you, Alone
The more people you meet, the more comfortable you become with the absence of normality.
I’ve strayed from my original perception of normalcy.
It’s easy to do since I work at a place where I can give tours to my friends and capture social media happenings.
I can’t just decide myself what’s being built. Someone decides what they want, then I work for them.
-Frank Gehry (The architect who designed the new Facebook building.)
“The game is if the orchestra can hear each other, they play better. If they play better and there’s a tangible feeling between the orchestra and the audience, if they feel each other, the audience responds and the orchestra feels it.”
-Frank Gehry
I mean it makes sense, right? As we grow ours minds, we learn to de-emphasize emotion in expectation. Exploring births knowledge. You’re forced outside of a coveted comfort zone.
Always a moderator for straying from the comfort zone and building a social life, I typically book my weekends full of events, like this past one staying at the Hotel Whitcomb, checking out the Sonoma Hot Air Balloon festival, dancing, walking, chatting and brunching.
In true social form, I’ve always felt the people define the experience.
I salsa to the flavor of my surroundings.
And it’s fun too. Being with others allow us to try on a new perspective, or two or three.
Being with others is easy for me. I prefer it. I love people, so much that I struggle to be alone.
Hellen Keller said “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much,” but sometimes a little is much.
Emerson believed “nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”
Thoreau “never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
Oscar Wilde said, “I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.”
Albert Einstein even took it to the next level: “Be a loner. That vies you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.”
It comes down to self-acceptance.
Know where you stand so you won’t fall for just anything.
Disconnect and enjoy your own company. Nurture the soul. Find happiness in yourself. Be willing to go alone just to make sure you still can.
Until you get comfortable with being alone, you’ll never know if you’re choosing someone out of love or loneliness.
Just like Maya Angelou said, “Nothing will work unless you do.”
While I love the people, I’ve got to learn how to love the self even more.
Alone, it’s nice to meet you.
Perhaps National Yoga Day mixed with lots of visitors this past week has allowed for a little introspection time.
And I’m okay with it. 🙂
How about you? Do you struggle with being alone?
