Alone: If we are not with others, we are texting, phoning, emailing but spending some time with yourself can reap enormous benefits.
In this pro-social world we are strongly influenced in favor of being with people, or at least constantly interacting with others, be it through social media or other electronic means.
We are always going somewhere, doing something or at least chatting to someone about going somewhere or doing something.
What if you stepped away from all of that and took some time just to be alone? Took time to just do your own thing, on your own and in your own way?
Here are 10 benefits of spending time alone:
1) There is no pressure as to how well you perform.
When you are alone you can take time to become involved in activities that you really enjoy with no pressure as to how well you perform them or how accomplished you are.
The joy is in the doing, in the experiencing and in your own inner enjoyment of expressing yourself.
2) Your unique brand of creativity flourishes
Your unique brand of creativity flourishes when you are removed from outside influences.
If you want to paint your house, paint a picture, design something, write something, invent something, spend quiet time allowing your imaginative genius freedom to explore possibilities.
It can be a most rewarding experience. Explore your abilities and interests. You may come up with something that will change your life.
3) Gear down, refresh and get ready to tackle the world.
We live in a very hectic society. Stress and stress related illness is at an all-time high.
Spending time on your own allows you to gear down, refresh and be more ready to tackle the outside world when you re-emerge.
4) Quiet time can help you sort through problems.
Just sitting down and thinking through a problem, thinking about what caused it and how best to resolve it can result in very effective solutions.
But even if a solution is not forthcoming, just having taken the time to think things through and to understand the problem more thoroughly can bring peace and a certain courage to carry on.
5) Get a better understanding of yourself.
Do you truly know yourself? Do you feel you really understand who you are?
Most people do not. While spending more time alone may not bring you the complete answer to this question, it can certainly give you a much better understanding of how you truly feel about things going on in your life.
You can discover more of your abilities, your passions, your interests and even your dislikes. You get a feel for yourself, who you are and where you fit in the world. This brings self-confidence.
6) You may find a new best friend.
Contentment with life is strongly based on contentment with who you are. If you spend time alone, you find out more about yourself.
If you really dig down and get to know yourself thoroughly, and to enjoy who you are, your interactions with the world will work out better too because when you know and like who you are as a person it shows through everything you do and say. It is a very attractive quality.
7) Get more done.
Do you have a list of things you need to do, want to do? Is your list one of these that never seems to get any shorter because you are always too busy to get around to doing the things on the list?
Spending time on your own will allow you uninterrupted time to get these things done.
You may or may not enjoy doing them, depending on what is on your list, but you will definitely feel better for having finished them.
You will emerge with less stress, less weighing on your mind and the satisfaction of a job well done.
8) Become more relaxed and tolerant.
Do you sometimes feel irritable and get easily annoyed with people? Do you find a great many “jerks” around you at times?
The more annoying people appear to you, and more of them there are, the more you could benefit from some time on your own.
You cannot change the world, you cannot change what other people say or do.
But you can change your perspective on them. After some calm, peaceful time on your own doing whatever pleases you, or doing nothing at all, you will find the annoyances in life shrink dramatically because you are now relaxed and more tolerant.
9) Explore the possibilities for your life.
You can explore the possibilities for your life. What would you like to achieve or do? How can you go about it? What do you need to do to be able to start? Think things through. Allow your mind to wander. Do not relegate anything as impossible.
Just keep on thinking about what would give you the most satisfaction, the most joy.
What is that? Take time alone to look inside and ponder on what would make your life the most worth living, both for yourself and for those you love.
It may be something that comes through your work or not. The important thing is that it is what brings you joy and engages your passion.
10) Enjoy time with someone awesome.
And finally, it is a great idea to spend time on your own because you are awesome and spending time with someone awesome is a wonderful, exhilarating, amazing thing to be able to do. Spend time alone and celebrate you.
Time by yourself can benefit you in so many ways plus making the time you spend with others more enjoyable as a result of being more in tune with yourself and more relaxed. What would you enjoy doing on your own?