It is one to me that they come or go
If I have myself and the drive of my will,
And strength to climb on a summer night
And watch the stars swarm over the hill.
~ Sara Teasdale, “The Solitary”
When were you last alone?
I don’t mean an hour here, an hour there, still clutching smartphone and wandering through streets filled with busy strangers. I mean alone – totally. Cut off from contact with anyone.
I got to thinking about this recently after a conversation with a friend, and found myself mentally working back to the last time I was genuinely isolated. I recalled many times when I spent hours of each day alone – I still do – and other times when I felt particularly lonely, but none of these periods was isolation.
Then I found it. May 1987. I’d moved into a new apartment and took a week off work to decorate. A landline hadn’t been installed, there were no mobile phones, no email, no internet. I didn’t even have a TV or radio. I had a record player and a pile of albums. I also had a busy social life and a large circle of friends, but for whatever reason I chose to be alone that week and paint those walls.
I eventually ran out of paint and had to pop out to buy more and it was the first time in five days I’d spoken out loud and heard another person’s voice… if you discount song lyrics.
That’s twenty six years ago.
The last time I was completely alone is TWENTY SIX years ago..!
I think of it now – spending five days without another human voice, without any form of contact, real or virtual – and I wonder whether I could do it? The concept both intrigues and horrifies me.
What do you think? Could you be totally alone for a period of time?
There’s a place – the Anechoic Room – which, if you listen to the recording, is self-explanatory. A scary thought. Total silence. Apparently, nobody lasts longer than 45 mins.
sandie zand 
Oh yes, I remember…last summer, for 5 weeks, I was almost completely alone. Every few days I said 'hello' and 'thank you' to the girl on the till in the supermarket and I did watch reruns of Lewis on youtube…but that was it. No other human voices. I barely went out (yup – I was depressed!!) and I began to think I was going mad…I need to be alone though. That's how I gain strength. But last summer…well…I don't really want to do that again…;-)
Oh, wow, five weeks… that's a long time.I guess being depressed, alone in the sense that one feels *lonely*,is a different thing and not in anyway uplifting. But being alone in way that allows a person to recharge, is as you say something from which a person can take strength.Though hard to achieve. Re-runs of Lewis… that's grim. I mean re-runs of Morse would be enough, but Lewis…;)
I'm an introvert. A loner. I loooove being alone. I like being alone with just my spouse as well. Spending time with people saps my energy and makes me cranky. We're an odd breed, we loners.
Bliss, is what comes to mind 🙂
Because my wife goes to work-related conferences three or four times a year (for 4 to 5 days each time), I'm alone then. But not really; I have my dog, Becca, to keep me company. And she's a great companion. The dog and I spend several hours each morning hiking alone in the desert. I call it "solitude"–something I genuinely need. And while I carry my phone along with us, I never have it on. I don't want anybody to be able to reach me during those few hours of solitude.As for truly being isolated, in my youth I backpacked alone into wilderness areas where you couldn't even get a cell-phone signal had cell phones been invented back then.Rob
I am alone, quite quite quite alone, a lot. Mainly I enjoy it. Occasionally I feel the weight of the air.
Yes, but is it *really* alone – as in sans gadgets? Every time I revisit this post, I crave my dad’s Spanish mountains.