Time alone

Time alone:

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Time alone.

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Don’t underestimate it.

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We all need it.

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The time to be bored.

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To wander off.

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To think about nothing.

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And everything.

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We need time alone.

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Away from all distractions.

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All technology.

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All people.

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Just us and our mind.

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Don’t run away from it.

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If you do, you’ll be doing that your whole life.

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Face yourself.

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Face the darkest parts of you.

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The ones you don’t want to think about.

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Understand it.

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Understand the reactions.

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Write it down.

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Tell someone about it.

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Get it out of your head.

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Or just think.

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Don’t judge.

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Ask yourself questions.

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Why do I believe this?

Why is this feeling so ingrained in me?

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Why do I feel this?

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Why?

What happened when I was a kid?

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I had a lot of time to ask myself these.

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Lived alone on multiple continents.

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Spent some time in Amsterdam.

The other in Montreal.

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Just me.

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Had work colleagues around me.

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But no friends.

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No real social life.

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A lot of time alone.

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Just me.

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I tried to run away a lot.

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Watch Netflix.

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Go outside.

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Not be sober.

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But I could never fully run away.

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I had to ask myself tough questions.

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I had to ask myself what I wanted.

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Amsterdam changed it all for me.

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A book in a cafe on a Saturday morning.

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Reading Think and Grow Rich in De Pijp.

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Read it, listen to it or check out my notes.

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That book changed everything.

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Forced me to ask myself about myself.

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About what I wanted.

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About what I was willing to sacrifice.

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About what my purpose was.

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It started with a saying.

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Writing it down.

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Saying it to myself twice a day.

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At the beginning, it made no sense.

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I didn’t believe it.

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Even after a few years.

But I kept it up.

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Kept following the practice.

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Then everything opened up.

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All this came together.

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All the things I decided to pursue started to make sense.

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As Steve Jobs says ‘you can’t connect the dots going forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.’

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Trust the process.

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I did.

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Then all the dots connected.

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I know what I want to do.

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I know where I want to go.

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You only find that alone.

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You don’t find that around other people.

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Remember this.

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Life is a single-player game.

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You’re born.

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You have a bunch of sensory experiences.

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And you die.

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How you interpret the time in between those two points is up to you.

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You have control over how you see that.

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It’s you against you.

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I stole this from Naval. Epic stuff. Everyone should listen to his Joe Rogan episode (here).

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He’s right.

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Figure out the game you’re playing.

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Figure out the one you want to play.

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Not the one anyone else wants you to play.

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It will be hard.

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It will take time.

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But if you haven’t found it, keep exploring.

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Do that by spending time alone.

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We all need time alone.

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