A friend of mine has a cabin in a harbor where most of the houses have fallen in the water or been abandoned. Her cabin is the only one still operational in the harbor. Because of that, it is a peaceful place of solitude that I only get to spend a week at every few years or so, but I wonder what it would be like to live there permanently? I often think living in solitude – alone and away from the hustle and bustle – would be perfect for me. The following quotes make me believe it even more.
1. It May Take A Few Weeks To Adjust, But You Get Used To It
I woke up one morning in my third week and felt a sense of peace. Nothing triggered it. I just remember thinking: I’m alone, and I’m okay. – Brooke Lea Foster in an article titled: What It’s Like To Spend Months in Solitude
I can imagine that things would be awkward for the first little while. It wouldn’t feel normal or habitual. Even if you don’t like hearing your neighbors and the cars going by, it’s something that happens day after day so to not have it would be weird. But, this happens with everything in life.
For example, I don’t have kids. When my friend’s grandmother died, I was suddenly in charge of her three kids as she traveled across the country for the funeral. After about 12 days, I got used to them. I no longer longed to get back to my home that gave me the freedom to be alone and do what I wanted to do. When my friend came back on day 18, it felt weird to go home and not have the hustle and bustle of kids running around.
So, even though living in solitude may be scary because it’s so different than the life you live now, you can get used to it if you enjoy silence and solitude.
I think fear is what holds someone like me back. I think I would like it, but I’m scared that I won’t. This quote helps alleviate that fear.
2. Your Surroundings Will Influence You
The weather contributes to all of my emotions at the lookout. And you kind of feel like you almost becomes the weather, where the weather excites you, the weather makes you sad, or, on a night that’s very windy, might be unsettling. – Leif Haugen
Leif was in a documentary about living alone on a mountain as a fire lookout. While researching quotes about living in solitude, I realized that there are a lot of fire lookout jobs, and it would be one of the ultimate ways to live in solitude and still work at the same time. Of course, you still have contact with people since you need to report what you see and communicate.
This interesting quote is a reminder that outside influences are always going to play a part in your life, even if you are living in solitude. The weather or the animals around you are going to impact you in some way. Just because you don’t have neighbors and people coming up to talk to you, life will still be everywhere around you having an impact on you.
This really gives me a sense that life would be full of solitude. You would never be lonely because there would always be something around or happening having an impact on you.
3. Learn To Love The World Again In Solitude
The more time I have by myself, the more I love our world. – Leif Haugen
I love this quote about living in solitude. LOVE IT!
This is exactly how I would imagine living in solitude would affect me. Why? As someone who works online, I sometimes hate the world. Twitter nonsense, hate, ignorance, and many other things make me start to hate the world and the people in it. I can lose hope in humanity, and it takes connecting with nature to bring back that hope and get me back to what I’m trying to do – make the world a better and less ignorant place.
But, it’s not just online. Some days I go out of my house and am suddenly surrounded by crappy people and crappy situations. It’s overwhelming some days.
Time spent living in solitude would help me connect back to myself, nature, and the core of what the world is all about. It would totally open up my awareness of what matters most.
And, I think it would be automatic that you would want to spread that awareness back into the world and have compassion for people who are lacking it because they are so caught up in their day to day crap.
4. Get Plenty Of Time For Prayer, Contemplation, And Creation
I need silence, time for prayer and contemplation – and that’s what I have here, plenty every morning and evening – silence. – Stan Vanuytrecht
I need that too.
Stan doesn’t have complete seclusion as he gets visitors to the Roman Catholic chapel that he lives in. They come up as they are traveling. Also, there is a chapel where he is staying where people can come to and confide in him. His job is to be a hermit, which means that he lives in solitude as a religious discipline.
If you are someone who enjoys praying and contemplating, then living in solitude would offer you that. It would give you plenty of time to be with your thoughts without interruption.
Personally, I love contemplating things. I can sit in my chair and think for hours.
Imagine contemplating things while looking out over the mountains knowing that no one is likely to bother you. That would be amazing.
It would also be great for writing, painting, photography, or creating any kind of art.
5. A Reminder Of How Well Nature Takes Care Of You
Nature provides so many things, if one has the eye to notice them. – Dick Proenneke
Dick lived alone for nearly thirty years in the mountains of Alaska. So, he has a thing or two to say about living in solitude.
This quote provides a stirring reason to try living in solitude.
Our attention is constantly being driven to the materialistic world. We forget that we are living in a world that is supporting us because we are too focused on technology and screens.
We buy things that we could make, and we don’t appreciate the flower right beside us because we are too busy listening to the news or worrying about the future.
For most of us – with a million distractions around us – living in solitude would be the thing that helps us develop an eye that pays attention. It would be a great reminder of where we come from, where everything comes from, and how important it is to take care of the planet.
So, if you feel caught up in the material world and disconnected from what really matters (like me), living in solitude would be a blessing.
