Human beings are social creatures. It is our interaction with people around us that makes us who we are. But let's not forget about another key ingredient in the mix: ourselves. You are important, too! Learning to be comfortable with yourself is one of the best skills you could develop that will affect your relationships with others and your life in general. In short, learning how to deal with being alone could make you a lot happier than you think.
9 Tips on How to Embrace Loneliness and Stay Happy
Understand That You Are Enough
You don't need to constantly keep relying on external validation to prove how good you are. Start realizing that being alone is a choice that you make, not something that is forced upon you. Once you start valuing yourself, you will hold high standards for the people you allow in your life. This will increase the positivity in your life by a huge margin. Think of this tip as a filter. Once you realize that you are a good companion for yourself, you will choose only those people who match up to that. In short, you will constantly look for people you approve of and who can add a large amount of value to your life.
Learn the Art of Talking to Oneself
Now, at first glance, this may seem strange. You may have heard that talking to oneself is a sign of craziness. Well guess what? It's not. Most times, we don't acknowledge our thoughts and feelings. Indeed, we aren't conscious of them. Thus, they crop up in our actions and reactions without us realizing. Talking to yourself would give these thoughts an outlet. It would make you aware of what you feel and it would process emotions so much easier. Learn to listen to that inner voice, because that inner voice is you. There is no better way for knowing who you are than listening to yourself talk!
Start Adding Value
A big part of learning how to deal with being alone is getting to work. When you are all by yourself, you have an abundance of time. It is the perfect headspace in which you can think, focus and be productive without any external interference. Just relying on society and deriving happiness from interacting with others are not what you were sent here to do. Your purpose is to leave an impression after you are gone. So get to work and start adding value to your life and the society. There is no better time to do than when you are all by yourself.
Start Going Out Alone
This may be a little tricky (read: awkward) at first because society generally frowns down upon people who do things alone. You must start realizing that the reason for this thought process is that people are too insecure about themselves, so they always need someone else to validate their activities. Go out for a movie alone, or treat yourself to an expensive lunch. You will start loving yourself and that will reflect on all of your actions. Do things that normally require two or more people. Soon, you will start understanding that those same people were mere additions.
Cut Down on Social Media
You might think that you are being alone and happy by logging on and spending hours on Facebook, but you are not. What you are doing is refusing to accept that you are alone by spending time in a network filled with pretentious social animals. Excessive use of social media will only remind you of how lonely you are and it'll make you feel even worse! Like I've just said, being alone isn't a bad thing. Most great people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are introverts and look where it has got them!
Meditate
In the hustle and bustle of daily life, we hardly get a spare moment to shut our eyes and just live in the moment. Alone time is perfect for that sort of a thing. Meditating in a dark room would not only teach you how to deal with being alone, but also make it very enjoyable. Take your time and sit quietly in a dark room just soaking in your surroundings. Listen to your life as it flows by you. Listen to everything that is going on and not going on around you. You will learn to be an observer and it will make you a more conscious (and therefore, more intelligent) human being.
Talk to People
Okay, so what I mean by this is: choose a handful of people you actually like being around and talk to them. You don't want to shut off completely from society, but you don't want to be over-dependent on it either. The best way to strike that balance is by retaining a few people in your life. People who you can talk to and share things with. You will get to know them and yourself better. They might also end up being your backbone or support system when you feel you need an outside perspective on something.
Avoid Stagnation
It is very easy to get stuck in a rut of inactivity when you are spending time alone. The golden rule of spending time alone is to keep moving. I don't just mean this literally, you could keep moving by changing things in your life. Even something as trivial as rearranging your furniture works. It will remind you that your life is in constant motion and the only thing that is constant is change itself. Go out for evening runs as well. That will keep your brain spinning and you will avoid depressing situations.
Pursue Your Dreams
This is without doubt the best part of being alone. When you are among others, you will have great pressure to conform and align yourself with society and that isn't necessarily going to satisfy those crazy dreams you have. Being alone gives you time and space to start working on realizing your wildest dreams. Maybe you wanted to travel the world or maybe you wanted to open a diner. Maybe you wanted to watch your favourite band live at a concert. Provided that you have the means, there is nothing stopping you from accomplishing all of these! Now you know how to deal with being alone.
View All Comments /Add Comment