Alone vs Loneliness

Loneliness. The one emotion everyone is terrified of feeling. The one that is demonized. To many people it means that your life is a hell hole and you should automatically be pitied. Although it is a scary feeling, let's not confuse it with being alone.

Being alone takes a while to get used to, but as time goes by, it becomes comforting. You become your own person, you figure out what you are passionate about, you ponder about what you strive to be, and you confront the “dark” side of your mind. The part everyone fears. You cannot run away from it and the only option is to face your “darkest” thoughts. The ones you have been trying to censor out since you were a kid. Whether it is about a traumatic experience or one of your insecurities, we are all guilty of running away.

On the other hand, loneliness is being unhappy because you are alone, or at least feel like it. That's the funny thing about loneliness, you don't have to be alone to experience it. Making an extra friend or two won't solve your problems, finding where it is rooted from will. Loneliness is a scary place for many people, including myself, but we have to experience it in order to grow.

Personally, I think we should all try being a bit more alone. However, I don’t think that it looks the same for everyone. That's the beautiful part about it, it's customizable, you can cater to your different traumas and issues. We are all capable of finding the light in being alone, it just depends on how we reach for it.