Being alone is different from being lonely. First, the feeling of being separated from others even when you are in the middle of a group of loved ones. As for being alone, spending time without someone’s participation is not always negative, despite the common fear, and it has many benefits for your mental and physical and emotional health.

In an interview with the New York Times,The New York Times) says Thuy Nguyen, a professor of psychology at Durham University who conducts research on isolation and its impact, “We can’t say that isolation is always good, but contrary to the common perception that time you spend alone is beneficial. It’s always a negative experience.”

So why are we afraid to spend time with ourselves? What are the signs of needing isolation? And what are its benefits?

Why do we fear isolation?

Even if we realize that we need to isolate and get away for a while, we may not be able to do so for a variety of reasons:

• The stigma of loneliness: “Isolation has always been considered a form of punishment because humans are social beings who need to interact with those around them,” explained Robert Coplan, professor of psychology at Carleton University.
• Fear of others’ judgment: Another reason to avoid spending time alone is fear of people and psychology professor Nguyen commented, “studies It shows that most people are prevented from enjoying themselves because they think others are watching them.”
• Constant search for promoters: If we look at our phones alone, we can see that they have a large number of stimuli and notifications, and being used to this level of distractions, it is difficult to pass the time without doing anything, stimuli and things that attract us. Focus on them.
• To escape thoughts: Angela Grace, a speech and language expert at Howard University, explains that the fear of loneliness can be a fear of self: Being alone with your thoughts, allowing your mind to think without social distractions, can feel scary and intimidating.

Stop.. you need rest

Being aware of the signs that you should self-isolate will help you get back in time to take care of yourself. Here are some of them:

• Irritability, extreme anger, and generally getting easily upset about things that don’t matter to you.
• You feel tired and fatigued despite getting enough sleep, and you constantly feel that your mental and physical energy is depleted.
• Always hurrying and rushing into multiple tasks is beyond your time and capacity and thus you don’t need to give your mind and body some rest.
• A feeling of tension, constant psychological pressure and inability to calm yourself down.

Benefits of Isolation

Isolation has many rewards when you only focus on yourself for a short time, here are some of them:

• Do as you wish: A little solitude allows you to do what you want where you want and enjoy your company without worrying about other people’s opinions or doing things you don’t like because of social pressure.
• Get to know yourself: Consider your time away from the hustle and bustle of life and its tasks as a warrior’s break to clear your mind, realign priorities, and plan for upcoming goals and changes you want to make.

• Improve your peace of mind: A study published in the Annals ofPsyArXivAccording to psychological research, a little isolation protects against sharp emotional swings, helps manage emotions and promotes a sense of inner peace.
• Improve your relationships: Taking a break from social interaction is an opportunity to de-stress and re-evaluate your friendships and value your relationships after spending some time alone.
  Nguyen, a professor of psychology, pointed out, “Studies on solitude are not detrimental to social life, but may actually enhance and enrich it, making us more willing to interact with others.”
• Face your problems and find solutions: Communicating with people all the time leaves you no opportunity to stop and think deeply about the problems you face, so isolation gives you the opportunity to focus on your problems and solve them without distraction.
• Reducing stress: Psychotherapy is recommended Emily Roberts Even people with a social personality can reduce feelings of stress by taking a break from social interactions.
• To increase productivity: When you are free from distractions and distractions, you will be able to focus better, which will help you get more done in a shorter amount of time. A study published by the Association for Psychological Science (AbsThe brainstorming process involved participants thinking in groups and working on their own, generating more ideas than group brainstorming sessions.
• Stimulating Creativity: You may have noticed that a lot of authors or artists retire to remote, quiet places because creativity requires balancing stimulating social interaction with spending time alone to think deeply, he says. study It was conducted by the Department of Psychology at the American University of Texas.
• Protection from Depression: Psychotherapist Amy Morin writes in an article on her website Psychology Today(Psychology Today) “Isolation improves our mental abilities, and many studies indicate that it is associated with the ability to spend time with oneself, happiness and satisfaction with life, ability to manage stress, and protection against depression.”

How do you spend your alone time?

The goal of spending time alone is to calm your mind and body, and you can achieve this by doing something you love or just sitting alone doing nothing, the important thing is that you are comfortable, you don’t need to plan and achieve big goals. You can use this time to blog, draw, or do simple exercise like walking.