How frequent is it that you take time out for yourself? To just sit in a serene place doing nothing but reflecting and relishing the silence.
I am sure there might be a few of us who can afford to indulge in this luxury regularly. But most of us don’t! We are somehow just not wired to make time for solitude regularly.
For a few of us, it is too much of a luxury, since the battle of daily existence is no less than playing a survival game. Let alone thinking about spending an hour all by yourself.
Quite understandable. However, for many of us, the real reason is the fact that our brain justifies staying busy. All day long, we are enveloped by uncertainty, which pushes us to do more, exercise control over everything we do, to stuff as much as possible in the given time frame, to keep ourselves addicted to social media and other mind-numbing distractions.
The Drive of Busyness: Ambiguity, Doubtfulness, Confusion
Uncertainty is ingrained in each hour of our daily lives. We are confused about what we should do, how to do, who we are, whether we are good enough, how to handle the struggles, what to do about things going on and how to deal with the uncertainty of life. We often don’t acknowledge such thoughts, but we are dealing with uncertainty all day long.
To deal with such a void and the feeling of groundlessness of not having control over our space, we often cling to things which are pleasant and distractions. Eventually, we procrastinate and let go of the priorities we should be focusing on. We always keep ourselves busy and messaging. Even if we get a little downtime, we end up fishing the phone out from our pocket, scrolling mindlessly through social apps.
To be honest, the idea of solitude seems extremely alluring to everyone of us. The thought of enjoying oneself and resolving the inner conflicts. BUT. When it comes to putting it into practice, we cling to being busy, entrapped in the world of uncertainty.
“I don’t have time for this.” “I am working on other important things.” “Just the last email, last video and the last episode.”
This is sad.
We must strongly acknowledge the fact that busyness and distractions are constantly draining us. In this era of hyper-connectedness, we are always using our energy. You recharge your devices during the night, but how do you recharge yourself? Do you think it’s good for you to be always stimulated?
Imagine how it feels to be disconnected from everything for a while? Away from TVs, reading books and all the devices? Maybe going out for a walk alone? Imagine how it feels to be not productive and just connected to nature?
We can definitely use some downtime to recharge ourselves from our environment. We can use some physical movement and cuddle the solitude to give our brain a chance to experience nothingness and nothing at all.
And to bring this thought into reality, you’ll need some powers. Powers to not let uncertainty drive the chariot of your daily lives. You may like this uncertainty, and you’ll definitely not be able to expel it completely; however, that doesn’t mean that it has to lead us.
To change your life, you don’t need to do any major makeovers. Micro-shifts like these will help you get the ball rolling. The first step is to create some space for solitude. You may find your mind trying to con you into behaving otherwise, but don’t give up. Go along with your rationalisations, urges, stress and everything else in between.
Observe what happens when you create space for solitude. Tell me how it goes. 🙂
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