Hye Readers,
Doing Things Alone: Would You?
Going to the movies. Sitting at a coffee shop. Going for a walk in the park. Shopping. Eating out. Normally we would do all of these activities with a friend or two or in a group. But would you do it alone? Or would you cringe at the very thought of watching a movie alone in the cinema, worried people might think and afraid they’ll feel sorry for the loner?
Trust me I know how it feels. I wouldn’t be caught dead in the cinema alone, no matter how badly I wanted to watch a movie. Neither would I consider sitting in a restaurant eating alone because I’d feel self conscious. Even if I were out alone and hungry, I would rather pack the food to go and eat it in the privacy of my own home rather than sit in the shop alone.
I don’t know why it bothers me to be alone. Not only do I not like feeling lonely and friend-less, I also can’t bear the thought of looking like a loser who has no choice but to hang out by herself (even though this is not necessarily what people think!).
I don’t know why a lot of us do this. Some people are perfectly fine doing things alone, but some aren’t. But why are a lot of people afraid to be seen doing things in public alone? I have no idea. Perhaps we’re just being self conscious thinking people might be wondering why we’re doing things alone like losers. Or maybe we’re afraid they’ll feel sorry for us, like we don’t have friends of our own that’s why we’re out doing things alone instead of with company.
I admire the independence of those who can do things alone. Which is why I’m trying to be more like that. We can’t rely on people to be around for everything that we need, so we might as well suck it up and learn to be OK with flying solo at times.
Doing things alone:
· Helps You To Be More Independent: When you do things alone, you learn to be more independent and self sufficient, and slowly you’ll learn to rely less and less on others and learn how to survive on your own. Much like when you moved out of your parents’ home for the first time. These things take time to learn and adapt to.
· Helps You Build Confidence:
When you’re independent and do things for yourself without relying on others as a means to fall back on, you’ll naturally grow to be more confident of yourself and your abilities. After all, if you can survive on your own for the most part without the help of others, it would seem like there isn’t anything you can’t do.
· You Have More Options:
When you depend on others to do things, you’re limiting yourself because you’re only able to do things if they are. If they’re not available to do it with you, you can’t do it. By going at it alone, you have a lot more options because, hey, who’s stopping you?
· You Learn Not To Care What People Think:
When you do things alone, you might feel awkward and self conscious at first thinking people are giving you funny glances or stares all the time, but you’ll soon realize that most people don’t really care. Sure they might give you a curious glance or two at first, but they eventually go off and do their own thing after that. Human beings are curious creatures by nature so no matter what you do, somebody is always look, criticize, comment or have something to say. You just have to learn not to care.
· You Might Inspire Or Encourage Someone:
You never know. Much the same way I admire those with the courage and independence of mind to do things alone, you might just be encouragement someone else needs.
Learning to go solo is not the easiest thing in the world, but then again, how many things in life are actually a piece of cake anyway? Most things come down to learning, getting use to it and the willingness to adapt and change.
Just think of it this way, if other people can do it, why can’t you? They don’t have any superpowers, they’re just ordinary people like you and me. Except they made the choice to do things alone sometimes. So can you.
Regards,
-Strider-
