Being a Loner is Great Here’s why.

Who or what is a loner?

We have all heard the stereotype. A person who sits alone and keeps to themselves — someone who doesn’t speak to classmates, go out with friends or chat with workmates. Some people call them the ultimate introverts, hermits or lone wolves. Or just loners.

As a highly emotionally volatile teenager, I have had phases of being or feeling like a loner sometimes intentional, sometimes not. Throughout these ‘phases’, if you will, I’ve felt a combination of both self-growth and a sense of peace that comes from the bittersweet isolation that allows me to wander through the wilderness of my own mind. Although the loner lifestyle is intimidating to the general public, for me and a small portion of the population, the loner lifestyle and its many pros and here are a few.

1. Time to Understand Me

Unlike my more social peers, being a loner has given me control over my schedule growing up. When you’re not out with friends every weekend, you have a lot of time to yourself. This extra time can give you the chance to delve deeper into your psyche. I ask a lot of philosophical questions about my existence and, with the use of the internet, being able to invest my time into my newly discovered passions like writing, or delving into the world of finance

I’ve gotten really interested in books, movies, and music. In particular, movies, what started as a means to fill the time grew into a true passion, it has come to the point now where I seem movies and television as a science in its methods to bring out emotions in us. Comedies are what I have developed the greatest love for and it all started with the masterpiece that is, Superbad. This hilarious, awkward coming of age film is what inspired me to delve into writing more and one day to even write a screenplay.

So, to summarise my first benefit, being a loner is a way to sharpen and discover your passions and interest as appose to being pressured into liking something just because it’s considered the social norm. This has helped me when I am in a more social mood as after discovering your own beliefs and passions it gives you a sense of peace and contentment which allows you to have more confidence, aiding you in being social.

2. Ability to Be Alone

If you’re like me and enjoy to being alone, maybe you’ve also grown more and more comfortable with the art of “lonesomeness,” a term I’ve used to describe the freedom and boredom of being alone most of the time. When you’re alone you don’t have to put up with people who disrespect you, and you can always leave them and enjoy your own company. Being in sixth-form, or high school, it is almost impossible to avoid conflict at some point, so the ability to be alone has sometimes really helped me. Whether introverted or not, being able to do things alone is important. In my granted limited time of living this lifestyle, it allowed me to be more relaxed in a time where everyone and everything feels out to get you. The isolation is almost a form of meditation in calming and relaxing the mind.

3. The Ability to Focus

The ability to focus is key in all parts of life. Whether it be, exercise regimes, homework, career moves, fulfilling a passion can be accomplished, however, it is up to the individual. Being isolated can allow a person to move around more freely with fewer obligations. As an example, in the past few months, I have given up going to parties, and not having social obligations every week or so has allowed me to dive deeper into writing and helped fulfill that goal.

Overall, by no means am I advocating a life of isolation, and to build your own fortress of solitude, but the term ‘me-time’ is something I feel as a society we need more of, in this day you can’t help but be with someone from snapchat, to seeing people on Instagram, we are very rarely spending time on ourselves. So, what I would say is maybe take some time just to be alone, and just think, because it really is a special feeling.