Alone Time: Self-care Or Loneliness?
Self-care is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s health. It goes beyond eating healthy, exercising, and spa dates. It also involves being intentional about spending time alone.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines alone time as time spent by an individual or a couple apart from others. It is time one needs to strengthen their personal relationship with themselves.
Many people often mistake aloneness for loneliness. However, loneliness can be described as sadness because one has no friends or company. The sadness induced by feeling isolated from people is very valid as we are social beings and as such require interaction to function effectively. Aloneness on the other hand, is often self-imposed. For some, it is the time one needs to strengthen their personal relationship with themselves. For others, it is critical to the general functioning of their being.
Inasmuch as alone time is necessary to health, it is still a concept that is yet to gain grounds. Hence, it is necessary to spread the word, for a clearer picture of what it entails, and highlight why alone time is important.
With that in mind, here are some of its advantages:
1. Self Awareness: When you spend time by yourself, it is easy to keep out the chaos and distractions out there. By so doing, we can connect intensely with our very selves and in turn come into a better understanding of ourselves.
2. Creativity: In a world where things seem less authentic, taking time to be by yourself is a rewarding approach to being more creative. When you take out time to be with yourself, you can reach deep within and inspire yourself through certain thoughts and imaginative expressions which births very ingenious and authentic ideas.
3. Mental Health: Today, it is difficult to have a couple of conversations without coming back to Mental Health. Spending time by yourself helps you to evaluate a lot of things. Some of which are your emotional stability, your state of mind, and how you are truly feeling. When you are intentional about taking some time to just focus on some of these areas, it boosts your mental health generally.
4. Strategic Goal Setting: With the noise from social media and reduced attention span, due to a plethora of information at our disposal, you need your time alone to help you be strategic with your goal setting. Spending time alone will often give you the required clarity and focus to work around the goals you want to achieve.
5. Improved Social Connections: When you spend time with yourself regularly, it becomes easier to spend time with others.
For context and a better understanding of the alone time concept, I will be listing some of the things we can do when we want to be intentional about alone time:
- Have small periods of no phone time during your week.
- Incorporate daily reading to your schedule. Here you can do just 10 minutes daily.
- Take random walks in nature.
- Try meditation
- Take yourself on a solo date.
- Start a weekly journal
- Listen to music intentionally for select periods in your day or week.
Although solitude in some instances can be painted in a negative light, the pros outweigh the cons. The Bible also charges us to do everything in moderation (Philippians 4:5). In essence, while it is very important to spend time by yourself, you must also endeavor to be intentional about your social interactions and connections as well.
Alone time is a secret ingredient that produces well rounded individuals. What do you do during your alone time? How often do you get to just be by yourself?
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