February 07, 2012

The Beauty of Being Alone




I am an extrovert who really enjoys being alone. Maybe this is partly due to having grown up as the youngest of five children with an eight year gap between myself and my next oldest sibling. From age ten and on I grew up as an only child.

I used to play cat's cradle all by myself with my fingers and toes.

And I learned to play both parts of the chopsticks duet simultaneously on the piano.

I busied my days with cooking and baking recipes from the Betty Crocker cookbook for kids, creating ornate doll houses out of big cardboard boxes, and learning how to knit and crochet. This was all before puberty hit, when kids tend to grow away from doing what they love.

To this day, I love to go to the movies solo, go on runs all by myself, and do errands alone.

I've learned, from observing my mom grow older, that enjoying time alone can come in very handy as life moves along, as we work less, and as friends pass away.

When we can enjoy being alone, the time to ourselves is rejuvenating.

I think the above clip is very inspiring.

I hope you do too.
XO, Louise

Thank you to Kathryn Feigal for letting me borrow it.