Why Solitude?

Solitude is the lack of contact with people. It is the joy of being alone by choice. One of the greatest example of solitude is the life of poet Emily Dickinson.it was clearly good for her creativity.

Most people choose to be alone to escape from bad experience. The worst experience is losing a loved one to death. You need time to deal with it. You don’t want to talk unnecessarily because you are grieving and you are remembered of your mortality.

My first encounter with solitude was when I was a teenager.  I liked to go strolling in the afternoon and stare at the water. It made me feel close to God. My mum stopped me from going

In the night I sit outside and watch the stars. A neighbour said he noticed I always liked to be alone. He said I should cherish the time I have left with my family.

I was annoyed with him for intruding in my personal time. I could not say anything to him because he lost his mum at a very young age. Therefore he clearly missed her.  I was not conscious of doing it. I stopped going outside to watch the stars.

Today I have perfected the act of solitude. I stare at my lap top screen and write away in the midst of my family. All of my siblings do not feel the need to talk much. We hardly watch films together, even though we have the same interests. If you have an interesting film you place it on your flash and pass it on to the next person.

I have only one friend in real life. He sends me messages every Friday and we talk a little on line. The remaining friends are my Face book friends. I doubt if they know me, I prefer to speak with images shared from peoples Face book wall. Sometimes I write short poems or share poems from my favourite poet expressing my thoughts.

Solitude is not a choice for me but a necessity   because I like to write and I need the peace to read books and write freely. I think about how hard it was to be alone in the past.

 All the people who left drawings on murals   probably had to pretend to be sick when their family went hunting in the Stone Age. There is this image that stuck to my mind. I saw it on a picture somewhere under a topic about ancient civilisations. It showed an Egyptian with polio. It touched my soul. I imagine the man in the past limping away on his stick to the future. I might not know the person but I can feel his pain a now. 

I realised that the reason why I love solitude so much is because I am an introvert. Introverts seek solitude because being around people drain their energy. They go out and socialise but they are always the first person to leave.

Extroverts do not like solitude. They are energised by being around people.

I am glad I came to this world when computers and Internet help you to be alone with your thoughts.

The most profound negative effects of solitude I saw were on documentary called scars of solitude by Cosma Beny. It showed a woman who was born in 1925 in her village in Romania. It was deserted 22 years ago and she refused to live. The woman said she was willing to die there. The woman said that with the fall of Ceausescu all the Saxons left. I   watched her talk when she heard noises made by animals. It looked like she was replying to the horse and chickens. I realised that solitude is not necessary good. It can be bad too when it alienates you from human beings.

 I think I will learn to interact with more people in real life not only on social media. I wish myself the best of luck because giving up solitude is difficult.