I am writing this post on the road from a hotel room in New York City. Often when I am on the road, I get thinking about this very topic: Being Alone.
When traveling for business you are inherently often alone. You go out to eat alone. You travel alone. You sit in your hotel room alone. You go sightseeing alone. You do a whole lot of things by yourself—and you’d better enjoy it.
This is a topic I’ve started to think about more over the years as I noticed other people’s amazement over the fact that I don’t think much about it. In fact, I even enjoy it. Which brings me to my point. There is a certain skill to being alone that’s definitely worth developing.
Naturally there are many times on the road, or otherwise, where you wish you had company. After all, we are a social species. While some people can just go into a new place and start making friends right away, I’m not one (yet!).
I fundamentally believe that this skill is something you need to practice. With all social media today, our “alone time” is even less alone. It builds confidence and self-esteem, which you transfer to other settings. To be happy, you need to find yourself, and part of that secret lies in being strong in being alone. Because that’s when you really are yourself.
Where does this leave us? I’m still not sure. I think about this topic a lot, but one thing I am sure of is that it is something I, and many others, need to practice. Practice makes perfect and you can change yourself pretty dramatically if you want to. It’s scary, but certainly possible.
Musings from my NYC hotel room.