# Do You Enjoy Being Alone?



## Mourn4UrSelf (Nov 2, 2012)

I get the impression that most of the people on this forum absolutely dread being alone. I, myself, don't mind being alone. In fact I prefer it.

Do you enjoy your isolation?


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## ShadyGFX (Jul 18, 2012)

Not at all. If I'm alone, I start to think about bad things but when I'm with friends, I'm distracted and happy.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

I love being alone. I absolutely need a certain amount of alone time each day, but I need my social time as well.


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## Mourn4UrSelf (Nov 2, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> I love being alone. I absolutely need a certain amount of alone time each day, but I need my social time as well.


This is exactly how I feel.

I get my daily dose of social interaction at school, and I do get quite a lot surprisingly. Once I get home though, I isolate myself from the outside world.

Being around people drains me. Being alone re-energizes me.


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## probably offline (Oct 8, 2012)

I'm sure some of the older members will agree when I say this:

I _used to_ prefer being alone. It was when I was alone that I could feel content and comfortable. But isolation comes with a price. If you take it too far, you start feeling "sick". It might take 5 or 10 years, but it will happen. It doesn't matter how much of a loner you are or how much you value your own private time. As a human you can't function properly if you're alone all the time. You find yourself just as anxious when you're by yourself, and you're left to deal with those emotions by yourself.


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## Christian S (Aug 2, 2012)

I only like being alone when I actually want to be alone.


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## AwkBoy (Jun 7, 2012)

probably offline said:


> I'm sure some of the older members will agree when I say this:
> 
> I _used to_ prefer being alone. It was when I was alone that I could feel content and comfortable. But isolation comes with a price. If you take it too far, you start feeling "sick". It might take 5 or 10 years, but it will happen. It doesn't matter how much of a loner you are or how much you value your own private time. As a human you can't function properly if you're alone all the time. You find yourself just as anxious when you're by yourself, and you're left to deal with those emotions by yourself.


I've never really thought about that, but I guess it makes sense.

I am a loner at heart, and I will always value my serene solitude time.


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## probably offline (Oct 8, 2012)

AwkBoy said:


> I've never really thought about that, but I guess it makes sense.
> 
> I am a loner at heart, and I will always value my serene solitude time.


I will always need private time too, but it should be something you engage in to get some peace from your ordinary life. My private time is "never ending" and very destructive. When you start to question who you are because you don't have people around you to mirror yourself in, you know that you've taken it to a level of an imprisoned person. I know I'm using my own life as an example right now, but I'm pretty sure there are others on this site who also live _very_ isolated lives.

I genuinely want to warn younger people of cutting too many ties. Keep a friend or two even if you don't _love_ them, and don't think that you would be alone 24/7 in an ideal world. It's very hard to start over from scratch when you're older.


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

Sometimes. Only sometimes.

I'd go crazy if I had to be around people all the time, but I'd go even crazier if I could never be around people at all.

Everything probably offline said is very true.


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## mesmerize (Oct 19, 2012)

lately most of the times i love being alone


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## yadx (Nov 2, 2012)

yeah, everything just feels so .... chill, relaxing, not really sure how to explain it
my mind is cleared when i'm alone, but when there are people around me talking all the time it's basicly the opposite(this is why i like to put my music on max so I just zone out of everything that happens around me)


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## AceEmoKid (Apr 27, 2012)

Depends on my mood. If everyone around me at the moment is bugging the crap out of me, I'd prefer isolation. If I'm alone too long and feel like nobody likes me, then I'll want to be around people again. 

I usually enjoy isolation when I'm involved in my own interests/projects. I'm alone pretty much 99% of the time (besides at school, although I just am AROUND people rather than actually interacting with them), and it's actually fun to be lost in my own little world...... But being alone can get...well, lonely.


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## Isolated18 (Jul 9, 2012)

I love being alone, because when alone im at my happiest, being around people depresses me.. just knowing the fact that ill never have friends or a boyfriend annoys me so in solitude it doesnt bother me as much but around others it does.. if that makes sense.


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## jayjaythejetplane (May 13, 2011)

I used to, but I've been alone for so long now I feel empty.


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## AwkBoy (Jun 7, 2012)

probably offline said:


> I will always need private time too, but it should be something you engage in to get some peace from your ordinary life. My private time is "never ending" and very destructive. When you start to question who you are because you don't have people around you to mirror yourself in, you know that you've taken it to a level of an imprisoned person. I know I'm using my own life as an example right now, but I'm pretty sure there are others on this site who also live _very_ isolated lives.
> 
> I genuinely want to warn younger people of cutting too many ties. Keep a friend or two even if you don't _love_ them, and don't think that you would be alone 24/7 in an ideal world. It's very hard to start over from scratch when you're older.


I'm pretty anti social, but I didn't know it could get that bad.


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## sas111 (Oct 20, 2010)

I'm in the middle about it..the loneliness is crushing at times but then I'm also miserable with company. I've become hallow & I lack a lot of stimulation, but maybe it's better than having people in my life. Sadness makes good company, I just wish I could feel it more..I hate not feeling.


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## probably offline (Oct 8, 2012)

AceEmoKid said:


> Depends on my mood. If everyone around me at the moment is bugging the crap out of me, I'd prefer isolation. If I'm alone too long and feel like nobody likes me, then I'll want to be around people again.
> 
> I usually enjoy isolation when I'm involved in my own interests/projects. *I'm alone pretty much 99% of the time (besides at school, although I just am AROUND people rather than actually interacting with them*), and it's actually fun to be lost in my own little world...... But being alone can get...well, lonely.


You said something important, because I think being _around_ people is enough to keep you sane. Maybe not happy, but sane. That's what I'm lacking atm(on a regular basis).



jayjaythejetplane said:


> I used to, but I've been alone for so long now I feel empty.


This.


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## Malek (Oct 4, 2012)

Only sometimes. I need at least some social interaction.

I actually skipped out on hanging out with my friends today cause I'd rather be alone... I've been finding them annoying lately. I can go on days without any social interaction but sometimes I require my social fix.

What I really wish for is a girlfriend to cuddle with, if I could rip out this need out of my mind I would, it's so painful lately.


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## TobeyJuarez (May 16, 2012)

no i hate it cause im never really completely alone, just ignored


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## GaaraAgain (Oct 10, 2011)

I enjoy being alone because it's balanced out by a lot of social interaction at school, work, and with friends, which is exhausting. I also enjoy it because I *choose* it as my time to relax and recharge. I don't think I'd enjoy it if it wasn't by choice, though.


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## RelinquishedHell (Apr 10, 2012)

I really enjoy my alone time. I wouldn't be able to handle friends calling me up every 10 seconds asking me to go hang out with them., that would just get on my nerves.
A girlfriend and just a couple friends is all I want.


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## low (Sep 27, 2009)

Yes! My misanthropy is too deep to form real meaningful connections with people at this point, besides I'm actually quite used to it. My deeper problem is social anxiety effecting my life, i.e. holding down a job (when I can actually find one), and finance. I hate to admit that because I feel a bit of a bum and such a dick quitting a job after a couple of months especially in this climate where they are few and far between. I'd be away on a couple of acres in the middle of nowhere off-grid and self sufficient if I could. I don't think we are (all) meant to all live our lives as cogs of the post-industrial capitalist machine like this. I'm not a hippy or anything like that but that's how I see it. For some people it's dehumanising. So I'm not really lonely, more 'isolated' and frustrated.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

I grew up as an only child so being alone is nothing new to me. 

I don't mind it most of the time but sometimes I really, really wish I had a significant other right now. :blank


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## Whatev (Feb 6, 2012)

Growing up I actually enjoyed being alone in my world. Now that I'm getting older its starting to become an issue, I mean I still enjoy my alone time but it would be nice to have less of it for now.


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## Kascheritt (Mar 7, 2012)

Yes. I can't stand being with people. I tell them to go away XD


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## Gena320 (Jul 1, 2007)

I don't need too much social interaction to be happy. I prefer to be alone, but some social interaction is necessary.


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## Awkto Awktavious (May 11, 2011)

I cut ties with past friends to be alone.
Now that I have a job I can finally move out of my parents house to be alone.
So yeah, I enjoy being alone.


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## lyssado707 (Oct 29, 2004)

Most of the time but sometimes not, the second one.


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## WhoDey85 (Sep 6, 2006)

Most of the time


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## lizdecember (Jul 25, 2012)

Most of the time i like being alone but i need human interaction sometimes


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## JamesM2 (Aug 29, 2012)

Love being alone. I don't enjoy being around other people.


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## theseventhkey (Jul 22, 2012)

Honestly, i probably wouldn't have it any other way.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

ThatOneQuietGuy said:


> I wouldn't be able to handle friends calling me up every 10 seconds asking me to go hang out with them.


sounds like heaven to me, in fact that was my life when i had friends in my teenage years


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## Squirrelevant (Jul 27, 2008)

I don't enjoy it, but it's often less painful than being around others.


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## SnakeEyes (Jun 27, 2012)

_Most of the time, but sometimes being alone makes me sad. Not having anyone to talk to when going through hard times sucks. _


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## GerrysKid (Oct 17, 2012)

I NEED my alone time after a day of work and interacting with people. Being alone all day gets too boring though.


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## InfiniteBlaze (Jan 27, 2011)

Yeah, I immensely value solitude. Sometimes I actually get really angry when someone comes into my room.


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## Nekomata (Feb 3, 2012)

Most of the time. I like hanging out with my mother and boyfriend though, other people make me want to shut myself away forever >_>


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## Disintegration (Sep 8, 2012)

Most of the time, yes. Being around other people brings me no real joy.
Being alone, you're more true to yourself...

I'm often more lonely around other people.


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## mysterioussoul (Jul 17, 2010)

*


jayjaythejetplane said:



I used to, but I've been alone for so long now I feel empty.

Click to expand...

*Ditto. I like being alone, and also I don't have to constantly "entertain". I used to be fine with being alone and didn't even notice it but now it's affecting me.


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## fredbloggs02 (Dec 14, 2009)

There is a difference to me between always having the choice to be with people, or even one or two friends, and waking up in the same state every day as if you were the last man on earth. A lot of people are convinced they prefer their own company, as they imagine they could do without the sun. I find isolation painful. If I could do things I wanted to do, perhaps I wouldn't mind so much. I think it's being enclosed not so much being alone that really makes loneliness unbearable.


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## Invisiblehandicap (Jul 31, 2011)

Deep down I hate it. But my anxiety says that I should not be around people :/


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## gusstaf (Jan 1, 2012)

I occasionally enjoy being alone, but less so than other people on this forum. I think of myself as somewhere in between an extrovert and introvert.


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## DubnRun (Oct 29, 2011)

I am isolated 24/7, no I dont like it.. I need my alone time but not constantly.. its whats made me attempt suicide and be sectioned, and yet im still like this...


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## Lacking Serotonin (Nov 18, 2012)

i like to be alone most of the time.


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## Gizmograda (Nov 22, 2012)

Sometimes I like being alone, like when I draw, or read idk.
Most of the time tho, I need to be with others, to keep me positive and to distract me from rumination over negative thoughts. It doesn't work all the time, but its better than being all alone with them.


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## cautious (Jun 1, 2012)

fredbloggs02 said:


> There is a difference to me between always having the choice to be with people, or even one or two friends, and waking up in the same state every day as if you were the last man on earth. A lot of people are convinced they prefer their own company, as they imagine they could do without the sun; I find isolation painful. If I could do things I wanted to do, perhaps I wouldn't mind so much. I think it's being enclosed not so much being alone that really makes loneliness unbearable.


Ditto. :yes

I've convinced myself that I prefer being alone...even though I know this is not what I truly want.


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## fredbloggs02 (Dec 14, 2009)

DubnRun said:


> I am isolated 24/7, no I dont like it.. I need my alone time but not constantly.. its whats made me attempt suicide and be sectioned, and yet im still like this...


That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear that. I remember setting things up as a consequence of the despair at my situation, crying to God or help from the ether. It feels like being trapped in a spider's web when your own consciousness becomes such an intense burden. Silence screams at you. I still face that despair when it hits me...and isolation is never fun. It must take a hell of a lot to alter the state of mind of a living creature sufficiently for it to impose such a horrific restriction on itself...or that intense desire to get out. Do you have any idea how you'll get out?


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## fredbloggs02 (Dec 14, 2009)

cautious said:


> Ditto. :yes
> 
> I've convinced myself that I prefer being alone...even though I know this is not what I truly want.


I can convince myself I'd rather be alone "I willed it thus". When I say that, I can convince myself I believe it, my whole being throws itself into those words sometimes....most likely a transient self-deception. I feel there must be more happiness in this world than the peace I earn doing that. I might have "willed it thus", but I can't will people not to speak to me. That really is a mortal struggle or self-mutilation, someone suffering from isolation telling others to "go away!"..most people perhaps. Imagine earning an eternally quieted conscience in isolation at the expense of someone who intensely interested you by telling them to leave you alone forever. If you could do it? Is peace of mind ever worth that? Perhaps it must necessarily be...if any human being were stuffed with heroine for the rest of their life they'd never leave it...but offered the choice...that really is it- if you can do that.

I don't know, perhaps I would never have wanted to speak to anyone had I never suffered this fear; I don't believe I've ever been entirely free to dismiss them all. That doesn't mean I wasn't born a social creature and all my desire for some bridge to others is an unhealthy internal dialogue. On some level maybe, but deeper, deep deep down. Do you have any idea how you'll get out?


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

It's not really that I enjoy being alone, it's just that the only other option is to not be alone, and that's much worse.


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## aquilla (Aug 18, 2011)

I don't know. I've spend so much time alone.At night, it's the worst - not that I would be afraid of something in this empty house,not the fear of burglars or anything . It's those daunting thoughts that comes when I can't sleep in the middle of the night. And I never actually think of committing suicide during daytime - at night only. And chances are slim that something could change. 40, 50, 60, 70 years like this.
But then again, I'm afraid of being close with other people.Whenever someone wants to know me, I run away - no matter if I like that person or not. When I just start missing my loneliness in some way. And because of that I'm never happy - with people around I want to be alone, without them I want to socialise terribly.It's a vicious circle.


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## Noun (Jul 20, 2012)

I love the times when I can be on my own. I work full time and still live with my family so I'm not really missing out on interacting with people.


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## GunnyHighway (Sep 28, 2010)

I need to talk to people on a daily basis or else I start getting lost in my thoughts, which leads to lots of negativity for the mot part. It seems recently that I've gotten numb to all of my emotions. Alone or with people, I just feel kind of "meh" and there's no real happiness or sadness.

With that said, having a girlfriend made me a much happier person. I don't think I'd need more than a girfriend and my best friend to keep me happy. I don't feel inclined to want to interact with large groups of people.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

I enjoy being alone or with the right type of people.


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## fredbloggs02 (Dec 14, 2009)

aquilla said:


> I don't know. I've spend so much time alone.At night, it's the worst - not that I would be afraid of something in this empty house,not the fear of burglars or anything . It's those daunting thoughts that comes when I can't sleep in the middle of the night. And I never actually think of committing suicide during daytime - at night only. And chances are slim that something could change. 40, 50, 60, 70 years like this.
> But then again, I'm afraid of being close with other people.Whenever someone wants to know me, I run away - no matter if I like that person or not. When I just start missing my loneliness in some way. And because of that I'm never happy - with people around I want to be alone, without them I want to socialise terribly.It's a vicious circle.


I'm sorry to hear that....Leave me in darkness with absolutely nothing but my thoughts is Chinese torture. That moment darkness hits, I want to resole a thousand possibilities, about four different needles of thought darting off in different directions over and over again...as if it were within me to resolve them ALL in a SINGLE majestic flourish! hahahahaha.. That-is- blackguard!... I think I'd rather that than silence though. I tend to switch the lights off or put down whatever I'm doing book, tv, laptop, when I have the least consciousness for rationalistic centipedes like that. I've not slept properly for years.

We could all do with a Mephistopheles I think ...to savagely pummel in the guts for having kept us so long. It is like a washing machine. Do you have an idea what it means to break the cycle?


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## Lmatic3030 (Nov 3, 2011)

I like being alone more often than not. Being around people is an exhausting exercise for me.


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## Alas Babylon (Aug 28, 2012)

Yes. 
The few times I haven't managed to somehow squeeze in a few hours of solitude a day, I actually felt more suicidal than I have ever felt in my entire life. I just felt so exhausted and sick of all the vapid and superficiality of it all, of everyone, of the utter pointlessness to absolutely everything, of all the gigantic flaws and the annoying sounds that they had. 
As soon as I am by myself, to my thoughts, it's just a relief, an elation. Kind of euphoric really, everything just seems to drift away.


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## m27 (Nov 14, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> I love being alone. I absolutely need a certain amount of alone time each day, but I need my social time as well.


Same here! I like hanging out with my friends, but no matter how nice they are I can only stand them for a limited period of time. I need to do things on my own too or else I'll feel suffocated.


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## Unknown88 (Aug 21, 2012)

I love being alone, as long as I am not alone 24/7. I need a balance to keep myself happy


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## halfly (Sep 18, 2012)

Yes, I love being alone. I don't feel lonely at all when I'm by myself.

Because it's being around people that makes me feel excruciatingly lonely.


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## Black And Mild (Apr 11, 2011)

Not at all, but it's better than bad company


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## Randall (Apr 8, 2006)

The only time I'm alone is when someone is in hospital. Don't like it too much!


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## JadedAm (Dec 28, 2011)

I enjoy alone time sometimes but I get lonely more often.


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## sean88 (Apr 29, 2006)

I love being alone. Social interaction with friends - I could take it or leave it. The only time I get lonely is romantically.


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

Most of the time. It's been so long..so of course after years of it you are going to get used to it or just not care.


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## Mani14 (Oct 23, 2012)

sometimes i don't mind being alone, i actually quite like it. but after a while it just gets depressing and lonely.


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