Solitude ...

[slobake]

Do you like solitude? It can be a month alone at a remote retreat or a quiet corner in a crowded bar. Reading a book in my back yard, riding my bike along a gentle path in the early morning or quietly watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. It can be an extended time of thought and reflection on life or a few quiet moments before a gig. It is a calm retreat from a noisy world that is always competing for my attention.
My mind can refuse to settle in to repose, it churns and jumps from one fragmented thought to another. Before long I find myself focused on the dust on the floor, what my neighbor said yesterday or the danger of tuna noodle casserole. I have learned over the years that solitude is more a state of mind than a place of isolation.
Without quiet soul searching I end up wandering though life with no awareness and no direction. It can be a spiritual experience but it also can be very secular, either way it is a life giving practice.
Do you enjoy solitude and/or contemplation? Maybe a quiet moment at breakfast or a week camping next to your favorite lake?
No doubt, it can take on different forms for each of us.

 

[Oddly]

Yeah, despite being fairly happily married for the last 30+ years, with two great kids, and a fairly normal-sized circle of friends, I consider myself a loner and am quite comfortable as such.
I've found solitude on solo woodland hikes, the streets of New York, and my own back yard.
It's a state of mind for me.

 

[MJ5150]

I am an extrovert, I like people and to be around them. I don't particularly care for solitude, but in the past few months I have come to enjoy being alone to contemplate.
I find that to be most enjoyable up in the woods in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. It takes a couple hours to get to that place from here, so a carefully placed deck chair facing the woods behind our house does the job for me most days. There are advantages to living out in the woods.

-Mike

 

[bass12]

My favourite kind of solitude is found in the mountains.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I voted for "contemplating your life in your back yard", seems like a good thing to do just to see where you're at and how you got there...

 

[slobake]

I voted for "contemplating your life in your back yard", seems like a good thing to do just to see where you're at and how you got there...

For some of us there have been lots of opportunities to do that in the last year.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

For some of us there have been lots of opportunities to do that in the last year.

Yes absolutely...

 

[FilterFunk]

I'm an introvert. I've always craved solitude.

I love being alone in my car. It doesn't have to be a long, scenic drive. Just going to the hardware store works for me. Preferably during windows-down weather, but windows-up is good, too, because I love to sing while driving.

 

[slobake]

I'm an introvert. I've always craved solitude.

I love being alone in my car. It doesn't have to be a long, scenic drive. Just going to the hardware store works for me. Preferably during windows-down weather, but windows-up is good, too, because I love to sing while driving.

An odd thing has happened to me. I started out my adult life as an introvert. Over the years I have realized how much I enjoy being with real friends. I still love solitude. Can I be an introvert and an extrovert? I will have to contemplate that over my next burrito.

 

[FilterFunk]

An odd thing has happened to me. I started out my adult life as an introvert. Over the years I have realized how much I enjoy being with real friends. I still love solitude. Can I be an introvert and an extrovert? I will have to contemplate that over my next burrito.

I think an extrovert is someone who can make himself at home with real friends or a room full of strangers.

Personally, I'm very good at holding my own in a conversion with a stranger, but put me in a setting full of people I don't know and I'm not comfortable.

Even with close family and friends, I get a certain amount of socialization and I'm good for a while.

 

[MJ5150]

I think an extrovert is someone who can make himself at home with real friends or a room full of strangers.

Personally, I'm very good at holding my own in a conversion with a stranger, but put me in a setting full of people I don't know and I'm not comfortable.

Even with close family and friends, I get a certain amount of socialization and I'm good for a while.

Funny you mention this.
I approach a room of strangers as an opportunity to make many new friends, so begin in earnest to do so. It's exciting to me.

-Mike

 

[yodedude2]

introversion is my default. (and yes, some folks are ambiverts; they are rare but extant.) the difference lies whereby one exchanges 'energy' in interacting with others--extroverts are energized; introverts are exhausted. the method of interaction can play a role. and of course, no one is a complete introvert or extrovert (unless they are utterly dysfunctional)--it is a spectrum, and folks slide along it. we all need a bit of quiet time now and zen

check out susan cain's 'quiet' for a great introduction to introversion.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

I love being alone in my car. It doesn't have to be a long, scenic drive. Just going to the hardware store works for me. Preferably during windows-down weather, but windows-up is good, too, because I love to sing while driving.

Myself also, but windows up.

I may look like a crazy singing but they can not hear me sounding that way.

 

[yodedude2]

Funny you mention this.
I approach a room of strangers as an opportunity to make many new friends, so begin in earnest to do so. It's exciting to me.

-Mike

classic extroversion trait.

 

[yodedude2]

...
Even with close family and friends, I get a certain amount of socialization and I'm good for a while.

classic introversion trait.

 

[Winslow]

Do you like solitude?

Yes.


Now go away.

 

[Passinwind]

Do you like Solitude?

It’s a decent ski area but Alta is more my style.

 

[ElectroVibe]

My favorite has always been walking in shaded trails and listening to music.

 

[Alkali Ike]

For about 20 years I made a solo pilgrimage to a lakefront cabin in central Oregon (part of Oregon State Parks). It had to always be the same cabin and in mid to late September, after Labor Day. I reserved it nine months in advance, the max at the time. Usually perfect weather, other cabins often vacant. I enjoyed nothing more than being there in solitude and reviewing in my head where I was in life and where I wanted to go (at the time). I loved being off the grid and disconnected from work.

Ok, full disclosure, it was a “deluxe cabin” with utilities and even air conditioning (I steadfastly refused to use a/c but it was available).

Then one year the marina operator installed WiFi for the cabins. The next year there was 3G cell coverage. Then LTE. I couldn’t resist using these abominations and it kind of ruined the experience for me. I stopped going because I was weak.

Also, smoke from wildfires became the norm, pretty much ruining the point of the thing for me.

Anyway yes I greatly appreciate some solitude now and again.

 

[ElectroVibe]

Funny you mention this.
I approach a room of strangers as an opportunity to make many new friends, so begin in earnest to do so. It's exciting to me.

-Mike

This is funny to me because there was an episode of Andy Griffith last night where he and Barney were both invited to an exclusive men's club. I was actually thinking, that must be an extroverted thing.