strategies to enjoy being alone

alone-time. it can either be the source of depression or happiness, depending on how we treat it.

i'm not talking about positive mindset here, because i believe alone-time can be mastered with many other ways than staying on the bright side. in fact, based on the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, trying to keep a positive mindset all the time can be one of the source of unhappiness too.

however, this post is not about that book. this post is me sharing my own ways to enjoy being alone.

we've all heard, "our biggest enemy is ourselves." that can't be more true.

yes, being positive is one way to avoid being defeated by ourselves. a time by ourselves should be spent carefully. even one wrong thought can make us spiral down a rabbit hole or trap us in our own mind-labyrinth.

however, life can't always be positive. we might expect life to be butterflies and rainbows when, really, it's storm, calamity, chaos, mysteries, all in one, and everything else our minds can't comprehend and our hearts refuse to digest.

being alone is hard because we are served with those things that "our minds can't comprehend and our hearts refuse to digest." looking for the bright side is not enough.

so here are some strategies that i've found very helpful to ease bearing the suffering of being alone:

• the free ways (just make sure you're not disturbing anyone):
• anywhere:
• sing
• at some spacious place where you can stand:
• dance
• need an object, at least a phone:
  (a tip: if you're going somewhere, bring something that is useful to kill time)
• anywhere:
• eat (and do something that is NOT thinking negative things)
• listen to music
• (re)read a book
• (re)watch a movie
• take pictures/videos
• at some spacious place:
• drive around (or go somewhere)
• need an object, at least a phone, plus a little effort and creativity:
  (again: if you're going somewhere, bring something that is useful to kill time)
• anywhere:
• take an origami paper and fold it into something
• take a musical instrument, a notebook, and a pen, then write a song
• anywhere you can put a book on:
• take a pen and draw or write something in your book
• or rip a paper and treat it as an origami paper
• at home:
• cook

personally, i don't recommend any activities that need an electronic, especially playing mobile game, scrolling through social media or through gallery, or chatting a friend. those things make us addicted to electronic (or worse, addicted to someone), and fail the initial purpose of enjoying alone-time.

anyways, i also recommend you to be creative and find your own activities to enjoy being alone!

life is like a jail.

it will be people's decisions to choose between finding a way to accept it or trying hard to escape it.

after all, we're not alone in this jail.

we just need some things to butterize this jail of life, or this stale bread, or boat in the storm, or whatever metaphor you'd prefer.