A Tribute to the Martian: Power of Solitude

We live in a world of seamless connectivity. Its a world where we pride ourselves being available & online 24 by 7! So, it has become quite a rarity when we find ourselves to truly alone. Even when none of our friends or family members are physically near us, they’re only a whats app or Hike text message away. While being so connected does have its benefits, but sometimes; it’s necessary to shut the world out and live in our cocoon of loneliness or solitude. Cutting a long introduction short, what can be the benefits of solitude?
We get Innovative & more productive: When we are truly & totally alone, we don’t rely on other people to entertain or otherwise enhance our life experience. Not only it forces us to think differently but we also don’t hold our self back in any way. Result? more new ways of accomplishing a task that we might not even had tried before, had we been working in a group. (Remember the movie & novel The Martian??)
We Work Harder: Remember school & college group projects?? I bet we all had near similar experiences where one or two members of the group put in all the donkeys work on behalf of group of four or five students! This group mentality of being Passive or “someone else will do it or should do it” doesn’t exist when we are alone. And of course, if we don’t do what we are supposed to, we shall be the one's taking the blame. But on the brighter side, when we are totally alone, we are completely free from distractions and can actually focus on getting work done with monomaniacal focus.
We are able to clear our minds better:We all need time to recharge. This happens best during periods of loneliness where we can sit back & objectively think about our problems, projects without the burden of outside opinions. History is ripe with tales of great ideas & inventions springing to life in serenity of solitude.
So next time, we should all welcome the prospect of spending ''that weekend'' or ''that trip'' alone all by ourselves!! Cheers!