Because our culture places such a high value on sociability, it can be deeply awkward to have to explain how much – at certain points – we need to be alone.
We crave solitude because life among other people unfolds too quickly. The pace is relentless: the jokes, the insights, the excitements. There can sometimes be enough in five minutes of social life to take up an hour of analysis.
Unless we’ve spent some time apart, we can’t be who we would like to be around our fellow humans. We won’t have original opinions; we won’t have lively and authentic perspectives. We’ll be – in the wrong way – a bit like everyone else.
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