Enjoying Being Alone: The Power Of Solitude
How the world’s great thinkers used solitude and why it should be encouraged nowadays
Solitude of the quiet mind stimulates the creative mind -Albert Einstein
Work alone, not on a team, not on a committee -Steve Wozniak
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible -Pablo Picasso
The best thinking has been done in solitude -Thomas A. Edison
The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude -Nikola Tesla
I welcome the opportunity to be by myself, to plan, to think, to plot -Nelson Mandela
The issue
The significance of solitude gets weakened more and more in the modern world. It is becoming rarer and rarer with every passing day. Very few people like to just sit quietly and just be. A minute into silence we turn on our phones, 2 minutes in we are calling our friends and 10 minutes in we are watching a show on Netflix!
Not only this, but if you tell someone you don’t like going out and would much rather prefer staying in alone they look at you like you’re mad. We should all realize that it is okay to be alone, being a loner is fine. There is nothing wrong with sitting at home doing nothing rather than going out to a concert on the weekend.
The magnitude of opposition is so immense that it begs you to rethink the idea. However, here are some notable people who are known to spend time in solitude.
Nikola Tesla-
One of the geniuses of the modern world, almost every modern invention has Tesla’s hand in it. His biggest achievement was the alternating current and he has 196 patents!
Albert Einstein-
The pioneer of modern physics and has his hand in all the theories as well as having laid the foundation on which modern understanding of the universe is built, won the Nobel Prize in 1921, and published 4 hallmark papers in 1905
Vincent Van Gogh-
One of the most influential and notable figures in Western art history. Made over 2100 artworks and became famous after his death in the late 20th century
Picasso-
One of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. In the 1980s Picasso estate was valued at over $250 million
Dr. Seuss-
Arguably the most known children’s book author of all time. His name is owed to over 60 books, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into over 20 languages
Charles Darwin-
Naturalist, geologist, and biologist. His most popular work was that of human evolution. His most famous works were The Origin Of Species, Voyage of the Beagle, and The Descent Of Man
Isaac Newton-
Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author. Recognized as one of the greatest and most influential mathematicians and physicists of all time. He is also the father of calculus
Blaise Pascal-
Invented the first digital calculator and was an influential and one of the most well-known mathematicians and physicists as well as an author
Barack Obama-
The first African-American President of the United States
Nelson Mandela-
The first black head of state and president of South Africa who fought against apartheid and racism. Inspired millions of people including Obama
Thomas Edison-
Arguably the greatest inventor ever. He has over 1000 patents. Arguably the most well-known inventor and businessman
I present a very star-studded list in front of you. Without these people, the world would be a very different place. All these people attribute the majority of their successes to solitude. So what is it that makes solitude so powerful?
Hypocrisy behind solitude
Solitude is a very hypocritical concept. The word solitude means being solitary but the truth is we are never really solitary. Everything I have written so far is about being alone, but the truth is that that is never the case. We all have voices in our heads, that is what gives rise to things like self-esteem and self-love. We always have these voices so even when you are ‘alone’ you have you!
Let me explain this in a better and more practical way. When you like someone, let’s say a friend, you tend to spend more time with them. This is the same idea. If you like yourself you tend to spend more time with yourself.
“Did you make any friends?”
One of the many flaws of the world is the fact that from the first day we go to school we are told to make friends. “Did you make any friends?” is a popular question when the child comes back after his first day. This results in a subconscious trigger that tells him that he MUST have friends and of course, if you have no friends you will most likely feel depressed so you should have people close to you who you can talk and share with. The point I am getting at is, the quantity of relationships is valued more than their quality. Since quality is undervalued against quantity, we are inclined to not make an effort to make a quality relationship with ourselves either!
Parents very famously ground their kids when they misbehave. Staying alone is thus force-fed as a kind of punishment children should be wary of. It’s about time we ground ourselves, right?
Solitude stimulates your mind in ways society can’t. Always being around people suppresses originality as your opinions and thoughts are being constantly controlled and swayed by your group. Therefore you end up knowing everyone but not knowing yourself at all! Pretty ironic!
Well, the other extreme is no good either. Research says that people who are always alone happen to go crazy at some point and that not doing anyone any favors either, is it?
Your relationship with yourself is not one you always have, it also has to be worked on and understood just like any other. The reason behind people having lower self-esteem nowadays is simply not spending enough time with themselves. They always want to be around people and are afraid of being alone with their thoughts.
All of humanity’s problems stem from their inability to sit quietly in a room alone -Blaise Pascal
Difference between solitude and being alone
People associate solitude with being lonely but they are two totally different things. Being lonely is a negative emotion people have to as a result of being in solitude, so solitude isn’t negative in itself. Solitude is a blessing we have been given while being lonely means not being able to enjoy solitude and that is basically the problem I am talking about.
Loneliness is the poverty of self, solitude is the richness of self -May Sarton
I could not sum it up any better than this!
Loneliness represents the pain of being alone while solitude represents the glory of it -Paul Tillich
Solitude and loneliness are more different than they are the same and these quotes do a good job explaining why.
Benefits of Intentional Solitude
One of the biggest benefits of spending time in solitude is that it develops creativity. As a result of this amazing consequence of this glorious blessing, great inventors have benefitted immensely from this.
Researchers found that people who are alone but not lonely tend to be more creative than other people. This is again because people who are generally alone tend to think a lot and that results in being more creative.
Solitude also allows you to channel your inner wisdom by forming a powerful connection with your mind or brain. It can also make you more decisive and give you more control over your thoughts.
Finally, with all the gazillions of information that is pumped into our brain daily, we could all use a bit of rest- by solitude!
Introverts
Now that I have talked about the benefits we are forsaking ourselves of by discouraging solitude, let’s look at a group of people who enjoy solitude, famously known as introverts. Better coined as weird or shy. But the truth is introverts are not shy or weird, they are just different from the current norm that has been drawn nowadays. Keep in mind this was not the case 100 years back.
Introverts are people who perform at their best, solo. They do not like to work in teams or groups but rather prefer working alone. This does not make us anti-collaboration, we just like taking our time thinking and focusing on ourselves.
The world needs introverts. A study stated that 98% of high-performance people are introverts! The number is staggering but the truth is if we discourage people from preferring to be alone over socializing and partying introverts will have to pretend to be extroverts. That way their productivity will take a nose-dive and that will not benefit anyone. We must allow people to be the way they want to be. Judging people has become normal and that must stop, the sooner, the better!
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