Twenty Twenty Taught Us The Importance of Alone Time

Elaine Hamilton
3 min readDec 10, 2020

Reflections On The Year

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

It might not have been in the way we were expecting, but this year definitely taught us the importance of self-care and the simple joys of being by yourself. Yes, we can enjoy our own company, there are many positive things that come from learning self-reliance.

We’ve spent a great deal of time alone, but perhaps we found that in that solitude we were able to tap into a more peaceful version of who we really are, we discovered new joys or hobbies, we read a little more, we searched for information, I personally discovered new authors that I have not read before, and found a brief respite from my daily life in their words. I’ve played more, meaning that I took breaks to do something fun, be it play with my cat, give a few more tummy rubs, or throw a few snowballs at nothing in particular and catch snowflakes on my tongue like a kid. We don’t have to adult all the time. I savored time in meditation without those interruptions of having to be on the go all the time. I chopped lettuce and carrots and left them out for the birds and rabbits to eat that came into the yard, finding my inner country girl. I rose earlier and watched the sunset with my cat perched on my lap. I developed healthier habits and nurtured myself. I unplugged and tapped into nature and grounded myself more. I took the time to notice the world around me instead of the world as it flew by my car window. I found myself attempting to show that I was smiling at others under my mask by giving cheerful words to grocery store workers, thanking them for simply being there, or chatting with people, distanced of course, while standing in a line, but it wasn’t the rushed sort of talk, it was more of a need to connect because we didn’t know how very much we really needed to hear someone else's voice, the humanity of it. We learned to appreciate the neighborly conversation.

On looking back on this year, before we prepare for another one, can we sit for just a moment and reflect on what we have learned, perhaps about ourselves, our friendships, and who we hold close to us? Maybe we can see this year as a gift of time to ourselves and a season to see what we are truly grateful for.

Maybe, just maybe we also learned what we have to give to others and to not be afraid of putting ourselves out there, to show empathy and compassion when and where we can, because no one really knows how much time we have and when we might just truly be alone.

This article was written in part from my article on Thrive Global. Read more, here :

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Elaine Hamilton

Author of Mornings With Maddox, and Catnaps, Catnip and Crunchies on Amazon, Contributing Fashion & Lifestyle Writer. Connect with me on Goodreads.