Solitude
Our Loose Blogging consortium includes Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Gaelikaa, Ginger, Judy, Magpie 11, Maria, Ramana and yours truly. Each of us when available, will contribute a piece for the topic for the week. The call of work, study or family concerns, often prevents some members from taking part on the day or indeed the week in question. This weeks offering was chosen by Ramana.
Solitude
Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your own presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.
~ Alice Koller
It has taken time, but I have achieved solitude and like my own skin, I am comfortable with it!
Rummuser said,
June 11, 2010 at 3:44 pm
That you have and I salute you for that achievement.
Maria said,
June 11, 2010 at 6:21 pm
It does take time and it is a special skill to arrive at peace with solitude. My years alone were the first time I was not with family or husband and children. They were difficult, but also times of great strides and personal achievement.
Grannymar said,
June 11, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Ramana - Thank you.
Maria - I am still learning!
gaelikaa said,
June 11, 2010 at 7:24 pm
We have to be happy whatever way our life goes. I hope I could do as well as you have whenever I have to live alone….
Rhyelysgranny said,
June 11, 2010 at 8:50 pm
I am fortunate not be alone but I am always content in my own company. I am by and large a solitary person. I am aware there is a difference between this and being lonely. I am sorry for those who flit from coffee morning to coffee morning seeking company as it is transient and not fulfilling. I think if you are happy in your own company you can adapt more easily to lonely situations thrust upon you. You have adapted well Grannymar. It is a thing we all fear. x
nick said,
June 11, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Sometimes I enjoy solitude, sometimes I don’t. If I’m completely engrossed in something, solitude is fine. If not, I may hanker after company.
wisewebwoman said,
June 11, 2010 at 11:43 pm
I love me some big orders of solitude. I savour them, roll in them, rediscover myself, entertain myself.
XO
WWW
bikehikebabe said,
June 12, 2010 at 3:21 am
I had a hard time with empty nest when the four kids were gone. So quiet & lonely. I got in with a bicycling crowd. Just enough entertainment.
BTW when I got married I thought my husband’s job was to entertain me. He was at work. I soon learned to entertain myself.
Ashok said,
June 12, 2010 at 5:41 am
Good for you grannymar
Marianna said,
June 12, 2010 at 5:55 am
That’s a wonderful achievement!
Grannymar said,
June 12, 2010 at 7:02 am
Gaelikaa - I didn’t choose the road my life has taken, it chose me, but I have come to terms with it.
Rhyelysgranny - I am content most of the time. Losing the ‘need to be needed’ was the biggest hurdle.
Nick - A day in company is like recharging batteries.
WWW - I have noticed a creeping selfishness about sharing ‘my space’. I need to deal with that.
BHB - I didn’t have time for any ‘Empty nest’ symptoms. I was the sole 24/7 carer for my husband, my mother died and six weeks later Elly left home for University in Scotland and within 18 months Jack died. It was only then that I allowed any grief to surface. I returned to work, rebuilt a social life and began to enjoy life once more, until fate took a hand once again with health issues. It was then and only then that I came to terms with solitude.
Ashok - Thank you. It is good to have you back and blogging with us once more.
Marianna - It took time and effort.
ernestine said,
June 12, 2010 at 11:24 am
You must have written this for me. Also, I did not choose the road my lifetime has taken - it chose me. At this time of my life, I love my solitude. Always busy here in the woods with my gardening, reading, meditating, writing, calls from children, grandchildren, and just continuing on the pathway of life.
How in the world could I be lonely.
I never dreamed that when I entered my 70,s and being alone that I would feel so much peace.
Grannymar said,
June 12, 2010 at 11:57 am
Ernestine - With every day that passes I realise that my life mirrors that of so many other women facing the world without their soulmate when the offspring have flown the nest.
bikehikebabe said,
June 13, 2010 at 3:22 am
Grannymar, you mention health issues. I just finished listening to a book about cotton mills in the U.S. in the late 1920s. There was so much fiber in the air that everybody got “Brown Lung”. Yet they lived well into their 80s even tho’ they couldn’t breathe.
My point is: You can have heath issues & still live a long life. (You look great on Conrad’s post, talking to his mom on Skype.)
Baino said,
June 13, 2010 at 5:58 am
I don’t like being alone frankly. Not sure I’ll ever get used to it but I do like my moments of solitude. They’re few and far between but occassionally, just very occassionally, I like my own company. You’re fortunate to be happy with yours. Even in moments of solitude I talk way too much!
Grannymar said,
June 13, 2010 at 9:00 am
BHB - I manage my health issues well and this allows me to live a ‘normal’ life, without help. It is other people around me that get upset and panic when I have an attack that are my problem. Their stress can make my situation worse. I hope to live for many a long year yet, so many people to meet and fun to be had, I am in no hurry to cock my toes!
Baino - I have learned to be content in whatever space I am in at any given time. I do miss the camaraderie of the workplace - the chairs do not banter in the same way!
Ginger said,
June 13, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Absolutely. Learning to be comfortable in one’s own skin, alone, take time. Lovely that you are in that comfortable place.
Grannymar said,
June 13, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Ginger - Modern fashions help… the wrinkles match the unironed look of today!
I do make plans for the future but not to the extent that I forget to be happy in and live my NOW!