Being Alone Can Be Good For You…What?

So the premise of my site is to show that whatever your dealing with, your not the only one dealing with it and you can change things and get through the tough times.  We think different things when we hear the word ‘alone’.  We get scared because we don’t want to be alone.  We may think that person over there is a loner, we feel sad, depressed, we feel sorry for those who are alone in this world.  Well being alone isn’t all bad, it actually can be good for you.

If you have felt alone in the world, thinking no one would understand what your going through, well your not the only one who has thought that.  I have thought that as well as so many other people.  If your someone who doesn’t like to interact with a large group of people (friends and family even) or gets nervous around a crowd of strangers, that’s ok, you may be an introvert.  This is someone who may be shy and is more inward focused on their thoughts and feelings.

Being alone can be good for you both emotionally and mentally.  Here are some of the benefits:

1. Become More Self Aware
If your not around people, you tend to have more time with your thoughts.  You can use this opportunity to think and reflect about things that you just dealt with, things that have been on your mind and want to figure out.  It’s also a good opportunity to figure out how you process information, how you deal with things, and how you feel about various situations in your life.  Use alone time to get to know yourself better.

2. Need a Break From the World
The world we live in has mostly become a fast paced one.  There are times when we have trouble keeping up with it.  We get the idea in our head that if we fall behind and don’t stay current on what’s happening, were not as good as the other people who do stay current with all that.  Well first off, I doubt the majority of people who claim to stay up to date with everything don’t.  If you need a break, take a break, it definitely won’t kill you.  We all need a break from everything that is going on in our lives to recharge and rejuvenate ourselves.  We need time away from people, the TV, our phones, our computers, iPads, etc to collect and get reacquainted with ourselves.

3. Being Alone Can Spark Creativity and Boost Your Confidence
Being alone can be hit or miss depending on your attitude and sometimes your personality.  You can become more aware of how you think and how you act by being alone with yourself.  Learning how you think and process information can spark your creativity.  You then begin to develop creative solutions on how to solve things.  As your creativity continues to increase, your confidence will go up as well.  You begin to like how you solve things and start thinking that you can solve anything that comes your way.  When your confidence goes up, you start to like yourself more.

4.  You Learn to Not Rely Heavily on Others
It’s great to have people who cheer you up and bring a smile to your face.  It’s another thing to be heavily dependent on them for all of your joy and entertainment.  These people may not always be able to help you every minute of everyday.  One thing that is helpful is to create your own joy.  You would think that making ourselves happy is easy because we know ourselves better than others; well not always.  Sometimes people can see the troubles you’re dealing with better than you because they are looking from the outside.  What can help is learning what really brings us joy no matter what is going on in our lives.  Something that really takes us out of our mind and gets our full attention.  You probably know this better than anyone else, but I’m sure some people close to you know it as well.  Learning this concept can be helpful for you for when you are by yourself since you will be able to create your own joy at anytime.

5.  Plan Things Out
Time away from others can be a good time to plan and sort things out.  If you have set some goals for yourself, plan out how you want to accomplish them.  Some people think more clearly when they have time to themselves than being around a crowd of people.  Everyone has a place where they do all their best thinking.  If you know what it is great, if not you have a spot even if you don’t know it.  You can plan things out the way you want and what works best for you.  If you operate better alone than in a group, that’s fine.  You have the power to plan out your life; sometimes we forget that.  You can plan things out the way you want and you don’t have to be concerned about making others happy about it.

Now I want to throw this out there because some of you may have already thought of this; there is a difference between being alone and being lonely.  This video will help to put that in a better perspective since it’s easy to think both words mean the same thing.  I know I used to think they were the same thing.

Now I’m not suggesting that you don’t go meet new people and cut off your friends and family.  I just want to inform you that you can be happy being by yourself just as much as being with your friends and family.  There are times where we are just by ourselves and we should make the best of it.  We have those opportunities to get to know ourselves better, get reacquainted with our thoughts and emotions, and learn new things about ourselves that will not only enrich our lives, but the lives of those we know, care, and love.