Alone Time: Why it’s Important.

I know for extroverts, *cough cough* me, this title is a bit daunting. A lot of people think being alone is such a negative, boring or scary thing. People use phrases, “Ugh I’m so lonely” or “Forever alone” or “One is the loneliest number,” blah blah blah. Which is kind of annoying in my opinion simply because that is all not true most of the time. Also, it can be the most beneficial time for you and you don’t even realize it and/or take advantage of your alone time…

I used to absolutely hate being alone freshman year of high school. I remember any second I was not with people, I would have to text people, call people or find someone to hang out because I HATED being by myself. I think it was mostly me thinking that no one wanted to be with me and I had a weird desire for social acceptance and looking like I had tons of friends… But it was honestly kind of disgusting. Around junior year of high school I realized I kind of like having some down time, and now I fucking LOVE my alone time.

Alone time is actually so important for self care, self love and self growth. Sounds kind of cheesy huh? But I am so serious it is SO true. Here are some reasons why spending time with you and only you, can be so beneficial and helpful:

1. You get time to clear your head. Being alone with your own thoughts makes is so much easier to ease your mind. When people are constantly talking to you, you don’t get much time for relaxation of the head. Sometimes too much going on in your brain is the cause of bad stress and anxiety. Take this alone time to calm down and drain your thoughts from your head and recharge.
2. You get time to work on yourself. I always want to write down my goals, or my to-do’s, work on my resume, work on cleaning my room, doing my laundry.. With other people around, these are honestly hard tasks to complete. Working on yourself, staying organized and doing things alone really helps you work on yourself and your self-discipline. Take time to do some yoga, or workout… FOR YOU. Eat your dinner alone, looking for jobs or new hobbies. Working on yourself is something only you can do, so take advantage of that.
3. You can spend time doing things you love, alone. For me, I love love love watching YouTube videos. This is one of my favorite things to do both to learn and also simply for entertainment. But I don’t want people around because I want to watch what I want to watch, not worry about what someone else wants to watch, or worry about them talking during the videos. I also love taking baths… having a bath with someone else it kind of weird and also kind of dirty so like… that is my me time. I love going on runs and with other people it can be fun, but sometimes I want to go at my pace, with my thoughts and my music. Being alone and doing the things you love it so good for just giving yourself some self-love.
4. Being selfish isn’t selfish. Sounds kind of contradictory right? True, but I am not talking about the negative selfish being selfish, I am talking about the positive selfish being un-selfish. Haha, that is a lot. But what I am getting at is the fact that taking time for yourself and doing what YOU want to do is not being rude. Saying no to someone asking you to go out, or hang out is not MEAN, it is simply you taking time for you and saying no because saying no is something you are entitled to. Loving yourself, taking time for yourself, being yourself is AWESOME.

Getting to know exactly who you are, by yourself is so important to becoming the best version of yourself. You are completely entitled to being alone, spending time away from others and saying no. It can be hard (like it was for me in the beginning of high school) but it becomes something so important to you and your self growth, that you will learn to absolutely love and adore your alone time.

Take advantage of yourself and give yourself some space. I love you guys! xoxo.

-KH