Building Your Solitude

by Nicole Keziah M. Untal

Rotaract Club of RCDM Scholars

What is the first definition that comes to your mind when you hear the word solitude? Is it Tranquility? the concept of being alone? Or loneliness? If your answer is one of the first two, congratulations! You are not going to have a hard time building your own solitary fortress, but if you answered the latter, do not worry, it is only normal to think that both solitude and loneliness are the same thing judging from the outside but fret not because any kind of similarities left between the two, ends at the surface as we dig deeper through its facade.

Loneliness is tagged as a negative feeling with a sense of isolation or where one feels that something is missing. Solitude, on the other hand, is a state of being alone with a positive outcome leading to self-realization. In fact, there are people who maintain a lot of social connections and go to different parties each night but still feel lonely and empty deep within. Even today, it is not at all unusual to feel disconnected from your friends, colleagues, and classmates in this virtual world we currently live in due to this unforeseen pandemic outbreak, However, despite everything, the world continues to spin faster than before where we might find ourselves starting to feel left out and unable to catch up. These feelings could then result in pressure and hopelessness making you lose the motivation that you need to continue your plans, dreams, and whatever it is you are so passionate about.

Fortunately, one of the best and simplest ways to cope with this problem is by searching and building your own solitude.

Each person has different preferences in building their own solitude but how exactly do you build your solitude? Solitude is something that you need to choose for the sake of yourself. Choose a time and a place where you can be alone with your thoughts and the only companion you can bring is yourself. At the same time, accept the fact that you are alone and that there is nothing wrong with it because it is what you need in order to grow. After that, all that is left for you to do is take your time, enjoy the quiet or whatever means necessary to achieve inner peace, it could be binge reading your favorite book series indoors or being one with nature outdoors. Make it a personal task to spend each solitary moment to explore and learn something new about yourself every day. Which part of yourself do you find fascinating and worthy of sharing? This will give you a chance to capture your own perspective and realize things you have never thought about before. These thoughts will then refresh your mind for the new challenges in life that are yet to come. Give yourself back the authority to manage your own life rather than having them run by the world’s expectations and demands.

Think of it this way, whenever you feel disconnected to anyone or anything, use it to your advantage and turn it into a positive thing by taking time to provide yourself a wonderful and sufficient company, yourself. Look at that person in the mirror and revitalize your mind by learning what makes that person special and worthy of loving, because it is in solitude where your mind regains its strength and learns to depend upon itself. It is in the presence of solitude where one will begin to realize that one is not completely alone, where in the poorest of noise, one finds the richest answers leading to richness of oneself.