Sunday, May 15, 2016

Am I lonely?

I was talking with a friend who revealed that she was lonely.  I started thinking: "Is that true of me too?"  I live alone and when I think of the times when I didn't, and since I've reached a time when I have a choice, I think I prefer it this way.

To live with others continuously and successfully you have to honor their rhythms, their need for their own story and the space to let it unfold.  I'm so quick with my inner -- and expressed -- opinions.  And yes, as you suspect, they do get in the way.

I recently picked up the notes I took when I was heavy into self-help philosophies.  They revealed familiar struggles.  Too familiar.  "Am I doomed?  Has nothing changed?"  I'll cling to this:  I am more content to live with my own story and the space by myself in which it unfolds.

Is that enough?  I'll never know for sure.

3 comments:

  1. If you think it is enough, then it is.

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  2. You don't have to be alone to be lonely. I've known people who live with another person and for one reason or another are lonely. I think felling lonely or not comes from within.

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  3. This ia a very timely blog for me, Joan. Although I feel that I am meant to live alone, I fear I may have lost the ability to be alone again. It makes me kind of angry and vulnerable to feel this way, but I will need to take the plunge sooner or later.

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