Spending time alone can induce fear in a lot of people, which is understandable. At the same time, the difference between moments of solitude and loneliness is often misunderstood.
As a psychologist, I study solitude—the time we spend alone, not interacting with other people. I started this research more than ten years ago and, up to that point, findings on young people’s time alone had suggested they often experience low moods when alone.
On social media, television, or in the music we listen to, we typically picture happiness as excitement, enthusiasm, and energization. From that perspective, solitude is often mistaken for loneliness….