Are you alone?
Not just right now. But sometimes.
If you’re never alone, try it next time you get a chance.
We’re not talking about for a few minutes here or there. Really alone. Doing something you like that takes a while, going somewhere you enjoy by yourself. Being with you for a while with no distractions.
Why?
It gives you a rest from being you with others. Most of us are different people depending on the company we are in. People we deal with alter our behavior based on who they are and our relationship with them.
Sometimes you just need to be you. And that’s who you are when you’re alone.
It’s actually quite refreshing to reacquaint yourself with yourself.
Consider it the ultimate decompression chamber.
For instance, a long walk alone on the beach works wonders. Especially if you can find a stretch of beach that is mostly, or completely, deserted. Like in that picture of Cooper’s Beach in Southampton that I shot on a walk there alone and posted here.
How cool is that? Who wouldn’t want to be there by themselves and enjoy the solitude, the sea air, the sound of the waves lapping on the shore, and watch the Piping Plovers dart away from the incoming tide as they scrounge for food?
A place like that offers several things we should all be doing to keep ourselves fit, both physically and mentally. You get exercise for your (like mine) aging body. You get some peace that helps recharge your mental battery. And you get some time with an old friend – yourself.
Remember that person?
I do.
I am Grandpaw to two amazing little people. I am a husband to a wonderful woman. I am a father to two incredible adult children and their loving spouses. I am a colleague to all those I worked with at ABC Television during what we consider the golden years of that institution. I am a writing resource to the Cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point, and to senior military officers at the US Army War College.
But that’s not who I am when I take a walk alone on the beach.
I’m just me. And I enjoy me for that time when I am alone.
Maybe it will work for you.
Let’s not get insensitive. There are some of us who are alone because of the loss of their lifelong partners. We all understand that kind of alone is not what we’re celebrating here.
When solitude is forced on us, it can be crushing. We all know someone in that situation.
In those cases, it is our job to temporarily relieve our friend or relative of that burden by reaching out and seeking their company.
You both benefit.
The solitary person gets needed contact with someone who means something in their lives. The one reaching out gets the satisfaction of giving someone else the comfort and contact they need to get a respite from their alone time.
When you get that chance to be alone and introduce yourself to yourself, give yourself my regards.
***
Marc Axelrod retired from the ABC Television Network after 37 years, starting as a Technical Writer and then filling various Training and Development roles in the Broadcast division. His writing has ranged from the technical all the way to Hollywood screenplays. He is currently a Professional Writing Consultant to the US Military Academy at West Point and the US Army War College. His favorite role by far is being Grandpaw to two amazing little grandchildren.
To read more of his thoughts on grandparenting, Marc encourages you to visit his website The Grandpaw Chronicles at: https://www.thegrandpawchronicles.com
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