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> I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. an

> I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. and > Men frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially." I am tempted to reply to such,—This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another. Both by Thoreau in Walden. I do wonder if interaction is a requisite to a happy life. Or if the perception of being a misfit is the true cause of these unhealthy outcomes. For those who are content to be alone, is the need for interaction still as important or can this be offset by a greater comfort with one’s self and a deeper connection to all of Nature?

shrimp_emoji 5y ago
To reinforce Thoreau's sentiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379oevm2fho&t=5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379oevm2fho&t=5s What messes with me most is the socially-programmed expectation that I should feel lonely, and that it's not okay to be isolated (and that it's somehow like smoking 5,000 packs per day or whatever). It causes me to constantly feel surprised at how okay I seem to be with being alone and like something's wrong with me or I'm not feeling the bad effects yet or something. :D (And the latter is true if you consider the erosion of your relationships as a bad effect, which I do.)
- endisneigh 5y ago
  being lonely and being alone arent the same thing
yesenadam 5y ago
From his friend Emerson: There was somewhat military in his nature not to be subdued, always manly and able, but rarely tender, as if he did not feel himself except in opposition. He wanted a fallacy to expose, a blunder to pillory, I may say required a little sense of victory, a roll of the drum, to call his powers into full exercise. It cost him nothing to say No; indeed, he found it much easier than to say Yes. It seemed as if his first instinct on hearing a proposition was to controvert it, so impatient was he of the limitations of our daily thought. This habit, of course, is a little chilling to the social affections; and though the companion would in the end acquit him of any malice or untruth, yet it mars conversation. Hence, no equal companion stood in affectionate relations with one so pure and guileless. “I love Henry,” said one of his friends, “but I cannot like him; and as for taking his arm, I should as soon think of taking the arm of an elm-tree.” https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/08/thoreau/306418/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/08/thoreau...

shrimp_emoji 5y ago

To reinforce Thoreau's sentiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379oevm2fho&t=5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379oevm2fho&t=5s What messes with me most is the socially-programmed expectation that I should feel lonely, and that it's not okay to be isolated (and that it's somehow like smoking 5,000 packs per day or whatever). It causes me to constantly feel surprised at how okay I seem to be with being alone and like something's wrong with me or I'm not feeling the bad effects yet or something. :D (And the latter is true if you consider the erosion of your relationships as a bad effect, which I do.)

endisneigh 5y ago
being lonely and being alone arent the same thing

yesenadam 5y ago

From his friend Emerson: There was somewhat military in his nature not to be subdued, always manly and able, but rarely tender, as if he did not feel himself except in opposition. He wanted a fallacy to expose, a blunder to pillory, I may say required a little sense of victory, a roll of the drum, to call his powers into full exercise. It cost him nothing to say No; indeed, he found it much easier than to say Yes. It seemed as if his first instinct on hearing a proposition was to controvert it, so impatient was he of the limitations of our daily thought. This habit, of course, is a little chilling to the social affections; and though the companion would in the end acquit him of any malice or untruth, yet it mars conversation. Hence, no equal companion stood in affectionate relations with one so pure and guileless. “I love Henry,” said one of his friends, “but I cannot like him; and as for taking his arm, I should as soon think of taking the arm of an elm-tree.” https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/08/thoreau/306418/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/08/thoreau...