There's a difference between being alone and being lonely.
I think it is important for an individual to be alone sometimes, especially at this age where we are about to venture off into new territory of life and discover our paths as people. The world is a cold, cruel place and if you don't ever have to stand alone, you won't make it. On a smaller scale there is simple bliss is doing things alone. Reading a book alone. Listening to music alone. Sitting and admiring beauty alone. Everyone needs these little moments to themselves. I do think, however, that we live in a society that is teaching its inhabitants to become dependent on each other. Teens in this day and age are attached to their phones, social networking sites, etc. and it's really wearing down on the individual. Everyone is so focused on what the next person is doing that we are all essentially becoming robots... one in the same. I'm not saying that everyone is falling into line like this, but a vast majority is.
There is always going to be someone that stands out. That one person who unknowingly doesn't fit the mold.
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the future. He asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I told him that I couldn't see myself doing anything but dancing. We've all heard my story, but when I asked him the same question his answer became etched in my brain. He admittedly doesn't know what he wants to do, like a lot of friends I have, but he knows he wants to travel to find these things out. Now I'm not saying that he's about to go all Siddhartha in the future, but he essentially wants to find purpose. We were looking out at the expressway at all the cars and he said "I don't want to be like them." Driving everyday to work. To their career. To drive home. To do it all over again. He knows what he needs to do and before him, I hadn't heard that type of realization from anyone. That got me thinking...
I'm so scared to do what everyone tells me I shouldn't do because it isn't practical or ideal, but why? I'm always so wrapped up in what other people say and think that it gets hard for me to make me own decisions. I always want to keep everyone else's feelings in mind and put myself on the back burner... but what do I want?
In order to find out, I need to stand outside of everyone's grasp. I need to stop looking for answers in my companions and do what I think is necessary for me. You don't know who you truly are until you're all you've got. Alone.
