For a lot of people, being in solitude is a bit scary. We live in a time where everyone is “busy” and our phones are permanently glued to our hands, so being alone can feel so weird that one might actually avoid it. I am not one of those people.
While I have 2 older brothers, being the only girl meant that after a certain age, I was on my own. The boys started to realize our “differences”, and there were mostly boys in my neighborhood until I reached the 6th grade, so I quickly had to learn how to entertain myself. I developed quite the imagination, and at its core, it taught me to find moments of solitude when life got to be too much.
Now as an adult, I actually crave those quiet times. Those moments when I’m alone allow me to get my thoughts together, recharge, and also find inspiration to help with my creativity. Being alone doesn’t mean I’m sitting in a room bored with nothing to do, though. These are a few of things I like to do in solitude to help me find balance.
- Take walks around the city listening to some of my favorite music (sometimes I’ll even listen to film scores and pretend like I’m in a movie in my head).
- See the latest exhibit at my favorite local museums (The Brooks + The Dixon).
- Go to the movies in the middle of a weekday afternoon (you have the theater mostly to yourself!).
- Take a bubble bath while listening to meditative music OR sing some of my favorite guilty pleasure songs really loudly while in the shower.
- Pack up one of my new books and head to a local coffee shop (love Java Cabana in Cooper-Young).
- Grab a few mags, snacks, and a blanket and head to the park or downtown by the River (love the part near Harbor Town).