Doing Things Alone

Last Monday I found myself going alone to a concert—unsure, lonely, slightly frustrated and annoyed. I wished I had more friends to go with. It was my first solo concert, and that made me sad that I had no one to share it with.

But once the band started playing, I couldn’t care less that I was alone. I was just part of the crowd, happy that I went. All those negative feelings went away, and I enjoyed the show and the music.

After the concert, walking back to my car, I thought to myself: sure, it was annoying to go alone, but I went because I wanted to. That beat staying at home thinking, “Oh, I wish I had seen them.”

The truth is, I’ve always done things by myself. I remind myself of that every time. There’s a movie I want to see but everyone is busy? Then I go by myself. I want to eat Japanese tonight? I might as well go by myself.

That voice that tells me I need people to do things with—that’s loneliness speaking. And I’ve decided I’m not going to stop living or going on adventures just because I don’t have someone to go with, or because people are busy, or not interested. That’s alright. I can do this by myself.

Yes, it can be awkward. Yes, the loneliness still creeps up. But I’ve got a life to live, and I can’t keep putting it on hold because I’m insecure, or lonely, or frustrated that I don’t have company.

My message today is this: if you want to do something, just do it. No one cares that you’re sitting by yourself in the movie theater. No one cares that you’re going to a concert alone. No one cares that you’re traveling by yourself.

It’s not always fun, but you’ll be grateful you did whatever you wanted to do. Live a little. Be courageous. Do the things that scare you. After a while, you’ll notice—they weren’t that scary to begin with.

Start small if you have to.
And above all—trust yourself.

See you in the next blog post.