Solitude

Solitude – the state or situation of being alone. Is this what solitude means to you? For me it implies being somewhere away from others and sitting in peace and quiet. According to the various definitions I have seen it is also about being alone and/or feeling lonely. So  this could mean for me that I live in solitude, I am lonely and I am alone if you look at all the definitions. So what does it actually mean to me? Well, I live alone and have done so for most of the last twenty years. I spent some time living with my son but that was not for very long. Certainly the last seven years I have lived alone.

But am I lonely? At times I am. But you can be in a crowd of people and still feel lonely. I suppose that what I miss most about living alone is the companionship of others, the chat and the sparking of new ideas that comes from talking to others. However I do see people; I run two groups where people come to my house and we learn different things. I also attend a couple of groups. But one of the things I miss is having someone around to share the load as it were.

But I am lucky compared to many. Although I live in a complex of bungalows where we are all pensioners, in the winter I do not see any of the others very often. We all stay inside but we do look out for each other in that we check if a person has got up that morning and we tell each other when we are going away. So I have solitude and I am sometimes lonely as well as being alone. Being alone and being lonely are two different things. Perhaps you could think about these differences and see if you can help those who may be feeling lonely this wintertime.

My photo this morning was taken earlier on looking at the snow on the shrubs. A beautiful sight but cold.