The Life of an Introvert

Why Everyone Needs Alone Time

Yes, everyone means everyone. Including the most extroverted person in the world.

My health teacher once told us that you should always take care to set aside twenty to thirty minutes to dedicate to spending time by yourself at least once every day. Solitude is an important element in this day and age. As it turns out, it may even be a powerful need.

Being by yourself can rejuvinate you. It can help you come with up new ideas, and restore your energy. And of course, as I have mentioned earlier, "alone" does not mean "lonely". There is nothing depressing or weird about spending time by yourself. And having time by yourself is important for everyone, from the most extroverted extrovert to the introverted introvert.

Another important thing to remember is that you can be alone, while being with people. Like the other day I was in my brother's room. He was on his Xbox playing some game. (Halo, for those of you that are obsessed with video games) and I was sitting by the window reading a book.

Were we in the same room? Yes. Were we still spending time by ourselves? Yes. Solitude does not necessarily mean sitting by yourself in complete silence in a padded white room.

It's important to know that solitude is an important outlet and route to creativity. For those of you that watched iCarly, do you remember that Spencer would always "take a bath" because it "solves all of his problems"?

Well, it's the same sort of idea. When I'm alone, I can come up with ways to solve problems, or think of things that I haven't considered before. And I feel like in this day and age, the amount of time we spend by ourselves is slowly beginning to shrink.

Think about it. We're always connected to something. On family vacations, we grab our phones and text our friends. We snap pictures of interesting things we see or selfies or your food or your cat's litterbox or whatever and post them on instagram. We absentminedly reach for our phones while thinking about something and play Flappy Bird, or 2048, or whatever it is you guys are into.

Some people can't go for more than an hour without checking their emails. Others have told me that they can't stand to be alone, or they're even afraid to.

And when we get home from school, a lot of us are going to be plugged into a machine of some sort. An iPod, or your phone, or your computer.

Yeah, yeah, I know. What a hypocrite I am. As I say this, I'm typing these words into a laptop. But I really hope that you guys get what I'm saying.

Solitude and isolation are not the same thing. If you need to understand that better, write both those words down on a piece of paper. Than draw an equal sign between those two words. Then grab a big red marker and make a slash through the equal sign.

Solitude is being able to enjoy your own company. Isolation is more of the feeling that you can't be part of the rest of society.

Spending time by yourself is also a good way for your brain to catch up to the rest of your body. We live in a very fast-paced society, where oftentimes you don't have the opportunity to question things that are happening around you.

And by getting rid of external stimulation like the radio, internet, or loud conversation, we also our brains a chance to rest and reflect rather than process information that's quickly thrown at us. Because of that, it's also a good way to ease stress.

A great example of someone who uses solitude to their advantage is Henry David Thoreau. For those of you that don't know, Thoreau is a author and philosopher who learned and understood the importance of spending time by yourself. This is one of my favorite quotes from Walden (Life in the Woods) which is basically just a reflection of his living by himself in a natural setting.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the esstential facts of life...I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life."

Ladies and gentlemen, Thoreau really got it. He lived by himself in a forest around Walden pond. He became kind of the icon for the civil-disobediance mindset.

Now, I'm not saying that we should condemn and get rid of social connectivity. Collaboration is just as important as spending time by yourself. I feel, though, that in many cases, solitude is often underrated, or even misunderstood.

Take my health teacher's advice. Spend some time by yourself. It's a lot more rewarding than many think.