4 benefits of spending time with yourself

It is mindboggling that the mind is as delicate as it is powerful. That’s part of the reason it is important to have a balanced set of experiences between solitude and social interactions. An interesting factor for many people is that being alone with one’s thoughts, and allowing one space and time to let the mind drift without any interruptions can be quite intimidating. Especially when it hasn’t yet become an ingrained habit. What’s more important though is that the experience of spending time alone doesn’t have to be negative.

And for the sake of your overall well-being, it’s essential to set aside the time to have conversations with yourself. With time and progress, that time can easily become sessions where you get to think through your thoughts, make sense of emotions, and seek to understand why they exist. Spending time alone can also add value to your relationships; boost your creativity and overall confidence. It also helps with learning to deal with emotions much more effectively, which then leads to a stronger handle on things when difficult situations (eventually) arise.

There are a few other ways through which you can reap the benefits of enjoying your own company:

Developing a stronger sense of self

Solitude can provide a chance to learn more about yourself and when it comes to your creative expressions, it can help you rediscover your own voice. The time spent alone can also help with accessing long-forgotten memories, gaining a clearer perspective and finding solutions for the daily challenges you face.

Cultivating a healthy relationship with solitude and making the independent choice to be alone helps with your development, strengthening your sense of self, and determining what your true interests are.

Visiting and analyzing childhood memories

Meditation allows you to constantly renew the mind, and hobbies play a big role here. This way, you get to break free from the world around you and achieve tranquility and be totally present in the moment through a combination of the pastimes you choose to engage in.

Solitude also helps with finding new interests and ideas without having to worry about the opinions of others.

Be inspired to offer more to your relationships

Comfortably spending time alone can also encourage you to form new habits that add value to your relations with other people.

By spending more time with yourself and getting a better understanding of who you are and what you want out of life, you’re likely to make better choices about the type of people you want to hang out with. Also, you may place more value to your relationships after spending time alone.

Relearning details you’ve forgotten

What might also add more depth to your memory is the act of journaling your thoughts, ideas and emotions.

In times of isolation, writing down what goes through your mind can provide a safe space to vent, talk honestly to yourself, and achieve clarity about what you need to do in different situations. And if you happen to have a hard time listening to your thoughts, writing them down can be a good way to sort through and evaluate those thoughts and emotions.

And still on writing things down, another way to improve your self-understanding is making time to read through the notes you might’ve written before. It’s a great way to revisit your thoughts with an objective mind and attitude.

For the fact that we’re human beings, our ability to face ourselves without being intimidated or unsettled is the first step in seeking and maintaining contentment. Spending time alone can ultimately help you gain a stronger control of your emotions and improve your mental and emotional health.

To close it off, an excerpt from Paulo Coelho’s Like The Flowing River perfectly captures the significance of solitude:  “A return to paradise is guaranteed to anyone who recognizes his or her reflection in the water and feels no fear”.