I would love to know how the rest of you handle being alone.

I had about gotten a handle on this but last year my son and his fiancee started staying over on the weekends but now they are not doing that for "awhile" and I am struggling with it. I love being alone on the most part except when it starts eating away at me. I am such a contradiction! I am such a hermit amongst a crowd of people.

I talk to myself fairly constantly! Mind you, I do that if I'm left alone in the office for five minutes.

i have books, and an internet *nods*

also books and the internet. and my piano: amazing the time you can waste hacking through a new piece.

I prefer being alone where there is plenty of access to people if I need it.

I felt rather lonely living by myself, though to be honest I got used to it after a while.

As an only child, I'm programmed to be able to deal with it!

Oh, goodness. I handle it with great zeal and gusto. Um. I don't know what else to say. Walk around your house naked for a while. That might help?

I don't think of it as too much freedom. Rather, for me, it's just enough. I don't know what would count as too much, for me. Maybe also not having a job?

I can get pretty fed up if I spend too much time alone - it feels like suck a waste - but sometime it's unavoidable.

quote:

Walk around your house naked for a while. That might help?

It does! Have a dressing gown near the door though - I once had to hide from the milkman.

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It does! Have a dressing gown near the door though - I once had to hide from the milkman.

This will keep me giggling all day long.

cats, internet, hobbies, research, tv, walking around naked (in the house), creating.. ummmm..ahh! chores! and going to visit friends.. even if it is my neighborhood plant friends.. it is still getting me outside the house and active...

It is not, strictly speaking, necessary to live alone to walk around naked in the house.

that is very true.. we have a standing rule here at the house.. call before coming over to make certain we're dressed..

we also save energy in the summertime that way.. clothes trap in heat..

My heavens! I was thinking all the way to work that I needed to clarify the post I left in that this was not the "boo-hoo look at poor me" but fortunately none of you reacted to it that way. Thank you.

There are other aspects of too much freedom that I wanted to chat over as well.

In the United states, and possibly other countries, we are given so many choices that sometimes we find it harder to make decisions. It used to take me upwards of two hours to shop for groceries because of an abundance of products. If you doubt this look at just the amount of toilet paper we have to choose from. Like the commercial of one toilet paper that you can choose between on that is stronger or one that is softer. Why not both?

This is not just to be meant to deal with isolation issues but just the day to day general overkill of abundance we have and how we so often waste so much of our time(or more appropriately my time) on indecision.

More later. It's time to start the 8 hours of fun once again.

Thank you, again for being there!

I find I have the TV on a lot when I'm alone. I like the company of the voices.

It's easy to choose toilet paper : I always take the one with the pretty purple ladybugs on it. Don't care if it's extra-soft, extra-strong or whatever.

Other than that, I think I wouldn't bear NOT being alone a few hours a day. Like I'd go mad or something. (I mean, more than I already am).

Best thing ever to do on your own ? Turn the music extra-loud and dance and jump all around.

Oh, and eat unreasonable things at unreasonable hours.

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Originally posted by Giabow:
I find I have the TV on a lot when I'm alone. I like the company of the voices.

now, i'm the opposite - i love the fact that for a change there are no voices, that it is quiet.

I could put the radio on whilst i talk to you all on the internet but i don't.

shhhhhhhhhhhhhh - peace and quiet

See, I grew up with a house full of people. There was always noise. I find I get too distracted when it's quiet. I can't think, I can't sleep, every little noise distracts me. If I put on the TV, it drowns out everything else. It's kind of white noise that I can ignore.

now i need quiet.

i need to time to crawl into my own head for a while sometimes.

lilith42, your grocery store thing makes me think of White Noise by DonDeLillo. He makes similar observations, and in defiance he had a character who would only shop in the generic section where everything was just plain white wrapping with black letters. Interesting to me is the fact that this character was a marketing genius. He appreciated the insanity of the rest of the store for what it was: a business strategy to overwhelm the consumer and cause them to make choices about simple items based on not only the item but the ideas wrapped up with it.