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Practice Being Alone, Happy

Solitude is very demanding. It means you have to be alone with yourself, with your thoughts, your fears, your doubts and phobias.

Nowadays, every moment of our lives is crammed - with noisy people, with "viral" reels, with excess information. Something or the other is always calling out to you, demanding immediate attention. FOMO is a major threat to emotional well-being. You feel you need to know, to be there, to participate, to prove your worth. 

But what if you didn't?

What if you are just sitting or lying all by yourself? Alone, in silence? No smartphone or device to give you company. No book or magazine to browse. No shows or game to watch. Just your thoughts and you.

Scary? What if all your insecurities come marching in - attacking you, weakening you, making you doubt yourself? What if you get hit by Imposter syndrome, the feeling of inadequacy? What if guilt washes over you, or worse, regret? Uncomfortable and restless, you reach out for your phone. Stillness, solitude, being comfortable in your own company, are the finer arts we still lack in. 

Emergency response takes over in a while....Book that show, fix those tickets, plan that dinner, catch that football/cricket match, Netflix till bedtime, complete chores, finish the presentation, whew! Chock-a -block routines. Not a moment to breathe. 

But, is your body and mind okay with that? 

What is this overreaching need to fill your spaces, any vacuum in your day? Each and every moment, our mind, our fingers and senses are busy hooked on the smartphone. Can we tolerate switching off? Joy of missing out is not for the weak-hearted. A certain amount of self-control, more so, self-comfort is required. 

But it is worth practicing, don't you think? 

Remember when we were kids, and used to lie down on the grass, staring at the clouds float across the sky? How many shapes, creatures and stories would we imagine? How many fantasies? Our imagination was being nourished with the solitude, the leisure. The stories we spun sustained us during rejection, heartbreak, sadness. We thought we didn't need external crutches to be happy.

Let's do that once more.....


#Solitude #BeingAlone #SelfCompany #BeingWithOneself #AloneAndHappy

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