My wife has this book called “The Daily Spark: 180 easy-to-use lessons and class activities!” They are journal writing warm-up activities. I was leafing through it when I came to an entry called “All Alone”:
“Mark Twain once said, ‘The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with oneself.’
“What do you think he meant by this? Does this idea apply to your own life?
Conclude your entry by explaining how you feel about being alone. Do you dread it, or do you enjoy having time to yourself?”
I think people have always thought of me as a social being. Yet, even as a child, I always enjoyed the comfort of my own room. It wasn’t the room itself, which was tiny. It was what the room represented, which was (relative) solitude. I’d read there, or create imaginary baseball games or look at my postage stamp and coin collections – where IS my postage stamp collection anyway?
I suspect that some of the difficulty I’ve had in relationships in the past is that my desire for alone time was perceived as some sort of rejection of the other.
These days, I try very hard to take off one day per month, usually a Monday. I can play racquetball a little longer than usual. Then I’ll come home, eat, read, watch TV, blog, whatever I want, in my own house. It’s the only time I can be in my own home by myself, especially since the child arrived. I used to go to the movies to see a film my wife didn’t want to see, but lately the desire for that has been outweighed by other needs. if it’s nice, though, I might trek to a park and read there for a while, if it’s quiet.
So do you have an inner Greta Garbo or an outer Ashton Kutcher?
ROG
