Wilfully chosen solitude is a crucial part of creative life. It is a favour you could give your mind and body, and one of the best gifts to thank your kind self for loving you, despite odds.
By Khazran Khan
میں تنہائیکوتنہائیمیں تنہا کیسے چھوڑ دوں ؟
اِس تنہائی نے تنہائی میںتنہا میراساتھ دیا ہے _
(How can I leave loneliness alone?
This loneliness has helped me in my loneliness.)
Solitude, the state of being alone! Yes, I am mentioning a term where you are in love with your own company, where the presence or absence of people doesn’t matter anymore, where everything is peaceful, and where you think great and do wonders.
Though one might call it an absurdity, but solitude is a real bliss. You love to be alone and all by yourself. Nah! It’s not self-obsession. Those in solitude actually feel their existence in harmony and full of contentment. Many times people living in solitude are often taken for granted or moreover as depressed or introverted. That absolutely is not the case. The more you try to understand yourself, the more people you will lose.
Undoubtedly modern generation lacks this bliss. They are deprived of solitude because of being socially more active by jumping on the bandwagon of social media platforms. Followers, friends, subscribers and blah, blah means a lot for them! Keeping aside the motivation, they think they can’t do well without it.
Regardless of waiting for them at the dark shores of despair, one must learn to enjoy the lights of hope coming from one’s self. People come and go. That’s the law of nature.
Nevertheless, we must mention that all legendary people have created wonderful masterpieces in solitude. In the words of Thomas A. Edison: “The best thinking has been done in solitude.”
The present-day youth, especially the students, have wrong notions of solitude. They confuse it with loneliness which is a totally different experience. Renowned educationist J.Krishnamurti urges students to spend time by themselves to unravel their inner strengths. He pressurises the idea that “you cannot find about yourself if you’re always talking and going about with your friends.”
Sitting quietly on a park bench, gazing at a vast blue sky, listening to music or chirping of birds, enjoying in the laps of nature, going on a solitary walk —all can be included in the time that you give to your noble self.
One day or the other, people are going to leave you. Regardless of waiting for them at the dark shores of despair, one must learn to enjoy the lights of hope coming from one’s self. People come and go. That’s the law of nature. No one is truly going to stay with you till end except your own self. There is nothing bad in being an autophile. That’s what Maxime Lagace stated: “The more you enjoy solitude, the simpler the life becomes.”
In Anthony Storr’s words, relationships are not the only keys to happiness. He views the ability to be alone as a sign of emotional maturity. Wilfully chosen solitude is a crucial part of creative life and we should sensibly embrace it if it suits us, he says. Solitude is a favour you could give yourself and one of the best gifts to thank your kind self for loving you despite odds.
Solitude lands you at the peaks of ecstasy which helps you to rejuvenate the dead inspiration in yourself and focus on the things you love to do. For poets, solitude is the precious and most valuable thing they can ever ask for. Words follow their journey from their heart to the pen when soaked in the ocean of solitude. William Wordsworth always celebrated the solitary mind space and nowadays people have also rediscovered this old pleasure.
Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; Yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living Earth: Khalil Gibran
So allow me to ask: How many of us are willing to taste the flavours of solitude? How many of us are willing to leave behind the crowd and accept our own company? How many of us have the courage to give up social media and focus on our development into a better version of ourselves? For sure everyone may not share a good experience but at least one can acquire real peace of mind and inculcate the idea of self-love in oneself. You don’t have to cut off from your people but yes, you have to find time for yourself.
There is no such point to feel the bliss of solitude during one’s sorrows. It can be felt during your joys too. All you need is a belief system. Give space to yourself, take a short break from your diurnal activities, leave the things that aren’t in your control, let go of the chaos enveloping you from time to time and admit that no matter what happens, you are always there to help yourself. Always remember that ‘you are more than enough and you don’t need to prove it to anyone.
’The author is an engineering student and can be reached at [email protected]