Loneliness

I've not had a lot of solo travel opportunities of late.  All of my recent short and long distance travel has been in the company of my performance troupe for the purpose of putting on a show.  I've enjoyed every minute of that of course and I enjoy shared adventure very much but there is something that is really wonderful about traveling alone.  With an agenda and timeline that is 100% yours there is a freedom of experience that isn't possible when the trip is a shared one.

I've been thinking of planning a short adventure for myself sometime over the winter and so I've been perusing the solo travel sites, reading articles and doing general research.  In the process I came across the video below and its accompanying article on Adventure Sauce.  While I think that perhaps the title might be better stated as Solo Travel Lessons: How to Make Loneliness Your Friend, if you have ever walked side by side with loneliness on the road or on your own couch, it is worth a read. 

I don't think loneliness is something one experiences exclusively because one is physically alone (you can be in a crowd of a 1,000 and feel quite lonely), and I don't think it is exclusive to solo travel, but spending large quantities of time alone gives one the time to think...A LOT.  Most of the time this state of being is just fine by me but occasionally when I've been rattling around inside my own brain for an extended period with only the voice of my own thoughts echoing back at me I will find myself desiring some sort of human connection.  When that connection isn't available loneliness can set in.  

Like the author of the article and video says, this isn't always a bad place to be.  Coming face to face with loneliness, allowing yourself to stand with it, can bring a certain kind of peace and freedom.  

I can't say I've conquered loneliness.  I still find myself in its embrace from time to time.  Sometimes I try to escape its grip with distraction but I know it is something that eventually passes; more and more often I am able to ask, "What am I to be taught now?"

Article - Solo Travel Lessons: Make Loneliness Your Bitch