What is Solitude? – The Power Of Solitude

Solitude may seem like the complete opposite of getting work done, but it can actually help you by allowing you to clear your mind from outside distractions. As a truly creative person, the only voice you must hear sometimes is your own. What to learn more about The Power Of Solitude? Then keep reading.

Want to learn about Business Mindset and Content Creation Strategy? Then, AClasses Content Academy.

Welcome to our series of articles on Solitude. If this is your first article in this series, please make sure you see the rest, so you can get the full detail of our discussion.

What you will learn about solitude

Here are the subtopics we are covering in the article series on “Solitude”

• How to Walk Alone Sometimes – The Power of Solitude
• Embrace Your Solitary Moments – The Power Of Solitude
• The Importance Of Being Alone – The Power Of Solitude
• What is Solitude? – The Power Of Solitude

The difference between loneliness and solitude

So as not to misunderstand loneliness for solitude, let’s start by clarifying the difference between the two. 

Loneliness

Loneliness is considered as a sense of isolation from the rest. It can be described as the feeling we get when our needs for social contact and relationships are not met.

Loneliness is often a situation where for a variety of reasons, you are not allowed to mingle with the people around you or the inability to communicate your true feeling with other people.

In most cases, loneliness has a negative connotation in that you are living your life in want of contact with other people – like, having a sensation of void or emptiness. Depending on how this is managed, it can easily degenerate into a more serious situation, like depression and other forms of mental complications.

Solitude

Solitude on the other hand is a state of being alone without necessarily feeling lonely, and it can lead to self-mastery and better awareness of self. Look at solitude as a moment of the search for inner meaning.

According to one description, solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation. And this may be a result of:

• A bad relationship,
• Loss of loved ones,
• Deliberate choice,
• Infectious disease,
• Mental disorders,
• Neurological disorders,
• Or circumstances of employment.

Here, I must add that while in loneliness, one might be living a life of void or emptiness, solitude, on the other hand, can be a choice, a way to tap into your source. Solitude can a moment for you to recharge your energy, and come out more refined as an individual. I addressed this argument in one of my online training classes, “Discover Your Life Purpose In 6 Days”.

You might consider enrolling in that training class to take this argument even further. It’s all about learning how to tap into your inner potential, because, really, you do have access to the like of a super-hybrid database at your disposal and you need to use it.

Now, why is the argument of solitude even important at all today? Well, I will explain.

Why I decided to talk about solitude

It happened in the year 2020. For the very first time in my life and probably in yours too, we were all under an uncommon situation, the Covid19 global pandemic, and it has probably changed a lot of things in our life.

It was in the late period of March 2020 and my curiosity grew beyond what I could ignore. It was about the reactions of the people, following the general lockdown in different countries of the world, all in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

In reaction, I started a series of interviews where I talked to many people in different parts of the world, trying to understand their feelings. I was interested in their feeling or what I called “Covid19’s Impacts On Our Lives”. That was how I later developed my podcast (Obehi Podcast) into what it is today.

One of my repeated questions during the interviews was, “how are you dealing with this time?”, and what I have come to learn in the interview series is that a lot of people do not really know what to do with their time.

Before then, we often heard of people, complaining about being exploited in their workplaces, that they do not have enough time to stay at home with their family and all that. But now that a lot of people are compelled by the circumstances of covid19 to stay at home, one of the main complaints was that many people were bored at home, not knowing what to do or how to spend their time.

Of course, that was not general for all the people I interviewed. Some individuals, very few of them actually saw the lockdown as a huge opportunity to reconnect and redirect their life purpose for more meaning. That was so fascinating to know.

What about you? What did you use the period of covid19 lockdown for? Have you thought about that?

Solitude can be very advantageous to our lives

You see, there is something very important for our correct functioning as human beings. It’s that from time to time, we need to disconnect from the bubbles around us, just to be alone. Don’t be fooled by the mirage of social media buzz and the television to keep you busy for nothing.

The truth is that you do need some prime times, just for yourself – time to maybe, have a walk in nature, sit down and observe the beauty around you. At that very moment, you don’t want to be disturbed because you are recharging your energy.

Have you taken the time to reflect on the wellness industry, for example, now booming more than ever before? What about the ancient times when some of the masters usually retired from their crowd of followers to maybe climb the mountains or some isolated places to commune one-on-one with their sources?

This is true whether you are talking of the very foundation of human spirituality in Africa, to Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and the rest on the list.

Did these giants among men know any hidden secrete about solitudes and solitary moments that we are now only beginning to understand?

Maybe the secret knowledge about solitude has always been around but accessible only to a few people among us. Your question now might be, “what do we really have to gain by observing some solitary moments, all by ourselves?” Well, let’s consider some of the benefits of being alone.

As we progress into this series of articles on solitude, I will continuously touch on other benefits and how you can really tap into the power within you. I think these are more important to you than the philosophy and psychology of our solitary moments.

Solitude helps to put your life in perspective and build quality relationships!

Do not underestimate the fact that being alone helps you put your life in perspective. One of the best things that happen when you are alone is that you reflect and when you do, you easily realize that you might be spending a lot of time and energy in keeping to some relationships you really do not need. This is not selfishness; it’s about putting your life in perspective.

It is when you are alone that you are able to see your hidden flaws, and then you can decide which of your relationship are worth keeping and nurturing, going forward. By being worthy of keeping, I mean are you growing together in the relationship, or are you dying together?

A relationship is supposed to allow the individuals to evolve and grow into better people and if this does not happen, then it is evidence that something is wrong.

You can only realize that when you do some self-examination and put your life in perspective without disregarding the other people involved in the relationship.

Another thing you will realize in your moment of reflection is your priority. What are your priorities in life? What are those things that are truly relevant to you? Pay attention – the answers you provide to these questions are fundamental to your personal growth and your peace of mind.

Solitude allows your creative juices to flow

If you are a creative person, you will definitely value some solitary moments. Those are the times when your imagination travels into larger territories, as against when you are limited by the noise and opinions of people around you.

Of course, the spike does not always only come when you are alone, it might happen when you are in a busy marketplace or inside a crowded bus, but the elaboration on your ideas usually takes place with fewer distractions around you. Your creative juice flows more in a quiet moment all by yourself.

Imagine yourself as a writer. Now, do you think you can effectively create your stories when you are constantly with other individuals who are making noise for the fun of it. You cannot concentrate where people are busy enjoying a football competition or a loud television program, for example. It will be extremely difficult because whether you like it or not, you are influenced by the environment you find yourself.

The moment you allow those distractions into your mind, you cannot create at the same time. The human brain, agreed by many psychologists and experts on the topic, can only concentrate on one thing at a time.

You might not be able to modify the environment. Not in all cases, but you can at least move to a different environment, so you can recalibrate yourself.

Solitude can definitely help your creative juice to flow if you learn to tap into it, from time to time.

Solitude allows you to regain your peace of mind

In our ever-busy world with excessive noise from everywhere, our brains are overly stimulated with different information and all day long. As a person who wants to benefit from the power of solitude, you need to deliberately detach yourself from the endless and sometimes frustrating noise coming all around you.

What are these noises? They might include:

• The continuous interruption in your social media feed,
• Street noise,
• Traffic sounds by the roadside,
• Barking dogs in the neighborhood,
• High-sounding music, and many more.

Some of these commotions are definitely not helpful to you and you cannot expect them to stop on their own. This is why learning how to tap into the power of solitude is very important for your well-being and your peace of mind.

By detaching yourself from the crowd, maybe retiring to nature, having a walk along in a quiet place, or simply observing the sceneries of nature, you allow your brain to reset. And this reset is fundamentally important for a variety of reasons.

Yes, solitude is a hidden power to be tapped into for our regeneration and this is where we will stop today.

Your key takeaways The Power Of Solitude

Solitude is an important part of life because it helps us to be more independent and self-sufficient. And when we grow comfortable with this feeling of being alone, we also tend to be happier, less stressed, and less prone to depression.

Solitude is all about clearing your mind rather than focusing on what you need to get done. But there are many benefits of logging off and tuning out into nature: more creativity, less stress etc.

If you find any value in this post, share also with your friends who might need it. AClasses Content Academy if you want to learn about Business Mindset and Content Creation Strategy.