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“Loneliness is of course not an asset in and of itself. It oen feels like a burden, but it also has potential. Everyone is lonely— some more than others—but no one escapes it,” writes the Norwegian philosopher Lars Fr. H. Svendsen in his book A Philosophy of Loneliness. Many religions and philosophical systems across the ages have emphasized that loneliness can be something positive, but today many people perceive it as something intrinsically negative. For me it’s all about how I respond to the situation of being alone, whether I’m able to harness loneliness in a good way or whether I just become restless or a little frantic. Oen I find that I’m restless for the first hours and days that I’m by myself, but usually—if I can stay the course and not allow myself to be tempted into seeking out company or distracting myself by thinking about the past or future—a sense of calm settles over me aer a time. Then I can start to enjoy being alone. That experience of loneliness is very close to what is sometimes termed “solitude
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