Get Some Time Alone

Posted on January 16, 2008. Filed under: Stop the Drama | Tags: alone, alone time, exercise, meditation, solitude |

Wednesday is about Stopping the Drama

Photo by Tico24

Some people are extraverts and enjoy spending time with others, while some are introverts and prefer more solitude. I am a natural extrovert, and am always looking to plug into and engage with others. However, despite my social tendencies, I find that having daily alone time is a good thing. With work, kids, a husband, friends, email, my cell phone, and the radio (which seems to always be one in my house), I feel like there is always someone talking to me or trying to get my attention.This leaves me with little time to just think, or engage in “the internal monologue”. So each day, I try to grab a little alone time.

Here’s how:

• Exercise. I run, and no one seems interested in joining me, which is fine. I recently started to do my longer weekend runs with a friend and that makes the time go quicker. However, when I run during the week, I am alone and really enjoy it. There are also times when I walk to or from work just to unwind and get some time alone.
• Be awake when everyone else is asleep. Ideally this would be early in the morning to get a head start on your day. Realistically, I think more people find it easier to stay up late after everyone else has gone to bed, but there’s something more deliberate about getting up early. I once heard an interview with Toni Morrison where she said she wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye, by getting up at 4AM to get in some writing before her children woke up. That spoke volumes to me about what can be done with a few hours of alone time.
• Take long showers or baths. I treat my shower like an isolation chamber and really take the time to enjoy the solitude and warmth of the water. My family teases me because I always take long showers, but it is my only guaranteed alone time each day and I often come out of the shower with lots of new ideas.
• Meditate, pray, or do whatever works for you. Whether you take time each day for reflective silence or repetitive rituals, do whatever you need to feel centered and spiritually enriched.
• Engage in your hobby. Do something that provides a creative outlet whether it’s playing an instrument or making something. I knit. I once showed my knitting to someone who said it would make her tense to knit because she would want to get through it to finish the project. However, for me the goal is to do the actual knitting, it just so happens that sweaters and socks result from those efforts.
• Go grocery shopping. This sounds like a pitiful way to get some time alone, but it is a strategy I picked up from my husband. I noticed he often runs errands alone and is eager to go. I suspect he enjoys the solitude more than he enjoys getting things accomplished.
• Clean your house. No one seems to want to join me in this activity! Honestly, I could be better at using it as a way to get alone time, than to get annoyed because no one else seems to want to do it.

These are my little ways to get some solitude built into each day. I find when I am alone, I often hear voices. Then I realize “oh, that’s the sound of my thoughts”

Anne