
Last updated on February 13th, 2025
These days we spend so much time around other people. Whether we are physically with others or we are inundated with social media contact, we never really escape the immediate closeness of others. Although this constant contact can be beneficial to parts of our lives, if we never take the time to simply be alone with our thoughts, then we will greatly limit our personal growth.
Generally, when I travel, I go alone, but I meet people along the way. After traveling and blogging for over a year, I realized that I actually had developed a fear of being alone for too long. I always thought I needed to have people around, especially while eating. However, on my recent trip to Rome, I decided to finally break this cycle of closeness and have a fine dining meal by myself, for the first time, ever. I was actually quite excited to see how it would be, and slightly frightened, it was thrilling! The experience turned out to be incredible and I was able to just sit back and enjoy everything.
Before, when I had to focus on what others were saying, I wasn’t able to just enjoy my time and reflect on life. This experience made me appreciate how important the reflection of life can be. Not only was I able to enjoy my thoughts but I also got to pay closer attention to every bite of food and every sip of wine. Some of our best ideas and realizations will come when we are alone. This is why if we never take the time to simply be by ourselves, we will never come to some of life’s most important realizations.
This is why I urge you to try it out for yourself! Take some time for yourself and just be with your thoughts. I know it might sound strange, and could be slightly uncomfortable at first, especially in a public setting, but if you take the time to really own it, and just enjoy the moment, I promise that it will be a very rewarding experience. Don’t feel that you have to do exactly what I did, this doesn’t have to be a fine dining, it could be any meal or any activity. No matter what you end up doing alone, focus on taking the time to appreciate the moment. If you are in a complete state of appreciation, you will never be lonely.
Go ahead, have some ME time!
Photo by the very talented Iker Iglesias.