Solitude Is Necessary

Solitude is intriguing. It nourishes me, it drains me, it demands from me, and it leads me to interaction.

I’ve spent most of my life not participating in any activity that was solitude in nature. I wanted people around me. I wanted activity and interaction, and lots of it.

But I’m becoming accustomed to my alone time, in fact, I’m seeming to require more of it.

I like being alone, and I never knew that about myself. Could be that I’m learning to enjoy my own company; a new phenomenan for this kid.

I’ve learned I can find face to face companionship whenever I want it by just walking out my door. I can make my way to the grocery store and always see someone I know. Or I can cross the street and knock on a neighbor’s door to chat about the armadillo that is burrowing in my yard. I can wander to the town square and stop in for a glass of iced tea at my favorite restaurant where I can usually find someone who will at least say hello.

Local committees and boards are always needing volunteers who will attend meetings, give money, and pick up trash on the highway. Now that’s always a really fun activity for this 74 year old! But I am good at delivering bottle water to those folks who are bending over and actually doing the heavy lifting.

More and more I am finding myself in front of the computer, typing away, reading the products of other bloggers’ creativity, and connecting with people through cyber space, rather than eyeball to eyeball. To do this, it takes, at least for me, some uninterrupted time. I have to concentrate on what other’s are thinking and sharing. I have to be still and alone to get my own thoughts focused for someone else’s edification. How else am I going to hear ‘that little voice’ that keeps nagging me?

There is a probability that I started blogging because I  wanted to connect with others and form a different community for myself. Not one that requires that I move, or that I attend a certain church, or join a club.

This community would be open, diverse, and non-demanding. Just people coming together to share their uniqueness, their talents, ideas, stories, lives, ups and downs; often nameless and faceless, but expressing themselves honestly, and often with a great deal of courage.

I don’t like what you are writing? No need to argue or disagree, I just won’t follow you anymore. This is much easier and far less emotionally draining than facing off in a shouting match…or an OK Corral episode.

I’ve found something unusual with this blogging adventure: my solitude leads me from isolation to connection, and then back again to isolation.

Aloneness is necessary for me to write, and when written, it is important to share. Then, I hit the off button on the computer and once again I surround myself in solitude, gathering inspiration for my next post.

Does solitude feed you?