Most of us are conditioned by the external world. TV series, movies, and society, in general, has convinced us that we should go out on the weekends, meet our friends often, to have a good time. This doesn’t help our personal growth and fulfillment because by focusing too much on the external world, we lose touch with the core of our soul.
1. Reboot your brain and unwind
Constantly focusing on external things all the time leads to lack of clarity, focus, and exhaustion. When your brain is switched on all the time, it is hard to feel rested. Imagine you’re in a car which is being driven by ‘Mr. External’, you’re sitting in the back seat, constantly trying to adjust to the haphazard driving style of the driver.
If you spend time alone, you can get in the driver seat again and replenish your vital energies. This energy shift will make you feel grounded and steer your life in the right direction.
2. Discover yourself and find your own voice
When you’re spending time with your friends or being on social media all the time, you take in their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs which cloud your own deeper truths. You will do what others do, you will think what others think. But if you enjoy being alone and take time for solitude, you will make decisions that are aligned with your core truths.
In other words, your decisions will reflect what you really want and this will bring more fulfillment in your life.
3. Have Better Relationships
When you’re in touch with your core self, you are more likely to attract people who support you on your path. On the other hand, living in the external world will lead to relationships that aren’t fulfilling and may even drag you down.
If you enjoy being alone, you better understand what you want and who you want to be. This leads to more fulfilling relationships that serve as a support system as opposed to relationships that drag us down and feel superficial.
4. Find and Do What You Love
When you enjoy being alone, you get in touch with your skills, talents, and unique strengths. You are able to find the things you love to do. However, living in the external world drowns your mind in the external noise and as a result, getting in touch with your core self becomes tough.
So if you want to know your purpose, strengths or simply the things you love to do, you should spend some time alone once in a while.
5. You’ll become more productive.
The author of Deep Work, Cal Newport, explains in his book that when we work in a completely focused way, undisturbed from external distractions like social media, we are able to create on an elite level. This work is “hard to replicate, creates new value, and improves your skill”.
In other words, if you enjoy being alone, you’ll be able to work on the bare essentials and leave the things that don’t serve you. By spending time alone, you’ll get into a deeply calm and focused state, and this focus will translate into your daily life, helping you do more in less time.
Do it now
Talk is cheap. So it’s time to act on what you learned. Choose a time this weekend where you’ll be completely alone and disconnected from the external noise of the world. This includes ditching your smartphone, PC, iPad, TV, and all other technology that you have.