Being alone
jessepollak.me
Being alone
1–10 of 167 posts
Re: Being alone
#2I'll be moving from Germany to Boston in a month, one of the things that I'm looking forward to is the chance to enjoy this process of "being alone" and "Pushing back on discomfort".
As much as I enjoy the company of my friends, having complete freedom and no accountability to anybody also has its advantages :)
That being said, cities like SF/Boston/New York/... make it easy to keep "alone" from turning into "lonely". I couldn't imagine doing the same in the far out suburbs.
Re: Being alone
#3Now no one has an excuse not to come to the next Watsi / Teespring party!
Re: Being alone
#4> As a white, heterosexual, cis, male, I’m granted, from birth, an extraordinary amount of privilege. One part of this privilege is the ability to make aloneness a choice; rarely, if at all, in our society will I be forced into aloneness because I’m different.
What a completely absurd thing to say.
Re: Being alone
#5Now no one has an excuse not to come to the next Watsi / Teespring party!
New trend: Deep thinking must be done at parties. But by yourself.
Re: Being alone
#6Stopped reading after
> Preface: As a white, heterosexual, cis, male, I’m granted, from birth, an extraordinary amount of privilege
I wasn't actually aware people outside of the Tumblrverse said things like that. (Over on Reddit there is /r/TumblrInAction for things like this)
Re: Being alone
#7Stopped reading after > Preface: As a white, heterosexual, cis, male, I’m granted, from birth, an extraordinary amount of privilege I wasn't actually aware people outside of the Tumblrverse said things like that. (Over on Reddit there is /r/TumblrInAction for things like this)
Despite the rather silly checking of privilege at the beginning of the article, it's kind of sweet read (like, "dawwww :3").
Re: Being alone
#8This reads like a talk that someone would give at orientation in college... does the tech community in SF really need this much help socializing?
Re: Being alone
#9I've come to enjoy many aspects of going out in the world alone (most are simply the effect of removing the 'distraction' of company):
- Much greater awareness of other people and surroundings.
- Great opportunity to take stock of what is good/bad in your life (for some reason it's easier to do this outside the house).
- Bursts of creativity (hint: this is a great way to fight writer's block).
These are just the ones I can think of at the moment. One piece of advice for anyone who feels self conscious when alone: since everyone else is amongst friends, they probably won't even notice you. We naturally assume our increased awareness (due to being alone!) is shared by everyone around us - that's not the case though.
Re: Being alone
#10One of the best things I've ever done for myself is pack up and move to another country - just to get out of the cultural bubble we all get wrapped up in. Culture is nothing but a bunch of lies; when you shift from one to the other and give yourself a reset, you see just how much this brings to bear on the individual. Eventually, dealing with a foreign language and strange people can be quite enlightening, if you treat the exercise as a means of rejuvenating your ability to respect the peace and quiet you'll get, at least for the first year.
I've done it a couple times now, having no real affinity with national identity, but I sure do love the cooking and language I've managed to collect. And finally, real experience with the people of the world, not just My Own Team™ ..