Have you ever spent time alone before? Spending time alone helps you feel relaxed and makes you feel better. Meaning, spending time alone helps you build your own confidence. It helps you figure out things you may like or want to do in your life, like your career choices. Spending time alone for yourself is good for your mental, emotional, and physical health.

Spending time alone “Can boost productivity, engagement with others and creativity.” said Micaela Marini Higgs, a former Lonely Planet writer for Bangkok, crafted market research for Netflix and Kellog, writes about Art for the New York Times. In other words, spending time alone can help boost your productivity, help you interact with others and also helps you be creative and explore things that you like. “Choosing to spend time doing things by yourself can have mental, emotional and social benefits,” said Higgs. That can be helpful if you were to think about it. Spending time with yourself can help you deal with problems and reflect on it.

Why is it hard for some people to spend time alone?

It’s hard to spend time alone. It can be hard for some people as they have ever done that before or keep having distractions. “Not used to being by themselves because they are so accustomed to being around other people and the sudden absence of social stimulation can leave them feeling detached or disconnected,” said Kendra Cherry,Author of the “Everything Psychology Book (2nd Edition)”, educational consultant and speaker focused on helping students learn about and enjoy psychology.Therefore, finding a time or planning out a time to spend time alone, so that you are prepared for it and also for people like your family, friends and peers to know that you need some space for yourself. But, according to Cherry, being alone or focusing inward can be difficult or even painful for some people as they find it distressing or find themselves thinking too deeply and worrying too much. In other words, spending time alone can be difficult for some people because they find it stressful when they find themselves worrying too much or thinking too deeply. When asked if spending time alone can be hard, Aylia Xiong, SPASH Junior, said that spending time alone isn’t hard for her. “I always manage to make some time for myself to do things that I want. It’s like charging yourself, your social battery before you go out and talk to other people.” When asked the same question to Ann Marchant, SPASH Teacher, spending time alone is really easy for her as she has time for it.

Can distractions affect your time being alone?

“My phone, sometimes social media.” Aylia said. “Tiktok, sometimes Instagram once in a while and Youtube. I get lost watching those Youtube shorts, but basically Tiktok.”

“Distractions are my email account, and the G-Chat, and I am terrible with that because I see a new email, I deal with it and get it over with but that interrupts me from lesson planning or grading which takes me longer.” said Mrs. Marchant “I try to keep my phone completely put away all school day because otherwise that is a big great distraction.” As you can see, stuff like social media or work can be distractions when you are spending time for yourself. Like Mrs. Marchant said when seeing stuff like that, it’s common to pay attention to it so you can get over it but also distracts you from doing what you are doing in the first place.

So Why Do I Need to Spend Time Alone?

The pandemic is still going on. There are people who are having a hard time lately, and that can be you. Spending time alone can help you spend time for yourself and also help you when you are dealing with problems and also helps take the stress away. Whether it be journaling your thoughts, or taking a walk outside to get some fresh air, or taking the time to try out new things, taking the extra time even if it’s just a few minutes, to release all of the stress and problems that you may or have been facing or struggling with.