Spending time in solitude can be one of the most challenging tasks we can face as humans. Our thoughts tend to get louder when we are alone, which is why being around a crowd can be comforting. Although sharing time with those we love is necessary, nourishing our relationship with ourselves is crucial as well. 

How well do you know yourself? 

Why do you like the things you are fond of? 

What is your personality like?

What about your soul?

Who are you?

How often do you ask yourself these questions? 

The people you love and confide in are probably individuals you have gotten to know pretty well. You might have spent a lot of time getting to know their type of mentality, their likes, and dislikes because you’ve dedicated enough time to decipher them. Truly, we cannot get to know someone else without communication. With this logic, we can conclude that this also applies to the relationship we have with ourselves. How much time have we spent building a relationship with our being?

This is a question only each one of us can answer. It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? How can we know ourselves if we do not take the time to ask ourselves questions and listen to our internal dialogue? This is why alone time is vital. The more time we spend in solitude, the more we can understand who we are. 

Alone time allows us to see what we have ignored. 

How many times have you found yourself feeling in a funk without apparent reason? Well, there is always a reason, but if we don’t take the time to retrospect our day, we can become victims of the “flow.” Going with the flow seems nice until we realize that we are giving away our power. By simple introspection, we can understand that sometimes, our actions and thoughts can create unpleasant results that can we can easily avoid in the future. We can also discover how to manipulate our lives in ways that will produce a better outcome for us by acting with will-driven intention. 

Solitude is also a great way to develop self-love.

When we avoid contact with our Selves, our self-esteem and ability to be happy depends on our friends, the weather, the circumstances of the world, and anything else but us. Nevertheless, as much as we want to ignore ourselves, that little voice in our head is the only constant that will ever be present in our lives. We cannot escape it, so we might as well make peace with it. 

You know how you’ve learned to accept your loved ones with their defects and imperfections because you’ve gotten to know and love them?

The same can happen when we spend time getting to know ourselves. When we get to meet the core of our Being, we can find many beautiful qualities that we were never aware of. When we allow the child within us to speak, we realize that we are far greater than we ever gave ourselves credit for.

Of course, we cannot deny that negativity exists inside us as well, but by sitting down with ourselves and trying to understand why we are the way we are, we can come to face the answers we’ve been seeking our whole lives. We might comprehend that many of our coping mechanisms are just masks we used as protection but aren’t truly us. With this information, we can learn to have compassion for ourselves because we have only been trying to manage our ordeals the best way we knew how to. 

Solitude is a gift. Like a knight who must slay the dragon to rescue the princess, we must go inside the darkness of our Being to retrieve the light. Being alone isn’t easy, and it can even be scary at times, but there is nothing more rewarding than living life conscious of who we are. They say that if we wish to know God, we must first know ourselves. The answers we seek are ever-present. All we must do is go within.  

We have made a free worksheet for you that partners well with this topic. Check it out here if you wish to get to know yourself a little better!