Solitude is a place I go. It is the calming flow of a body of water, or the wind moving through the pine trees outside. It is a small cabin on a wooded mountainside, or a deserted beach with a cooling breeze. Solitude is physical, mental, and transitional where I find my best talks with God or to cry out a broken heart. Solitude is a place I go to be healed so that I may give once again to the world in which I live.
When I was getting my bachelor’s degree I took a personality test based on Carl Jung’s theories of personality. As with many types of tests in psychology, the desired outcome would be balance. Two opposite traits pitted against one another, and I must fall somewhere on the spectrum in between.
The first two assessed introversion and extroversion. I did not come out balanced in this area. I was 80% introverted which left me spending only 20% of my time and energy on being extroverted. While the swing to one end was quite severe, I was not surprised for I am very much a person who keeps a world apart and within, while I save that small 20% for times of necessary interaction with others at work, school, or with family.
An extroverted person still needs to have times of solitude, but and introverted person may actually crave it. And for me it is almost as important at times as breath. I am unable to speak for all of humanity in terms of why solitude is required but I can say that for me, it is needed to take a check on the internal workings of my mind, body, and soul. I must be able to hear my own voice so I may remember what it sounds like and I must have that time to listen for God’s voice in my life.
15 years ago I was diagnosed with a mental illness. I am educated on mental health issues and my education is in the psychology field, but I might never have been able to fully understand the impact my illness has on my life if I were unable to have solitude and time away from the frenetic pace of the world. Solitude is the place where I’ve been able to find myself apart from my illness. Having that knowledge has enabled me to redefine who I am.
Solitude is also a place I go to meditate and move away from noise and distraction. I practice being mindful and my times of solitude are where I remember what it is to be aware and calm in each moment I am living and breathing.
I believe that the more hectic life is the more solitude is needed; the more it must be taken in the course of a chaotic day or week, for a healthy life is about balance, and balance will not happen without removing ones self from the noise and commotion of many people and places to the silence and serenity of the individual and their inner workings. I have also discovered the more time I am able to spend in solitude, the more willing I am to be extroverted and less introverted, sharing more of my inner world with others.
