![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The first week after ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scrottie leaves town is often hard. My routine when I'm by myself is different than when S is around, and I refer to myself as "functionally single" during those timeframes. For instance, I'll cook two meals, total, for the week, and survive on leftovers. Eating by myself is a perfunctory activity instead of a social one; those New Yorkers are my company.
What things do you do when you seek comfort? I have to remind myself that solitude is not simple alone-ness; there are certain activities that are best accomplished in solitude, like reading good books. Or some creative pursuits.
For instance, I've finally had the time and space to make bedroom curtains, a mere two years after moving in here. It's hard for me to work on this sort of sewing project with people around, because sewing takes up a lot of space and things have to be kept tidy.
Drawing or other art can be similar. When I was younger, I used to spend a lot of time by myself messing around with watercolors. I never made anything especially good, but that was a way to learn to be alone. The way I make things has changed, though, over time. Now, if I'm going to make something, the action is purposeful; watercolor paintings for the crew silent auction, a pumpkin riding a bicycle for a flyer, curtains so I can put up a plant shelf and not have to deal with raising/lowering blinds behind the plant shelf (haha, so long, stupid blinds!).
I keep thinking about Cynthia Doyon this weekend, for some reason. I believe that, when she shot herself, she felt deeply alone, despite the fact that she had a tremendous positive impact on the lives of so many people in Seattle. She was my Saturday night companion while reading books.
What I mean to say is, even when we're alone, our actions are still important in the context of times when we are not alone. It's a cloak to draw around oneself for a while.
scrottie leaves town is often hard. My routine when I'm by myself is different than when S is around, and I refer to myself as "functionally single" during those timeframes. For instance, I'll cook two meals, total, for the week, and survive on leftovers. Eating by myself is a perfunctory activity instead of a social one; those New Yorkers are my company.What things do you do when you seek comfort? I have to remind myself that solitude is not simple alone-ness; there are certain activities that are best accomplished in solitude, like reading good books. Or some creative pursuits.
For instance, I've finally had the time and space to make bedroom curtains, a mere two years after moving in here. It's hard for me to work on this sort of sewing project with people around, because sewing takes up a lot of space and things have to be kept tidy.
Drawing or other art can be similar. When I was younger, I used to spend a lot of time by myself messing around with watercolors. I never made anything especially good, but that was a way to learn to be alone. The way I make things has changed, though, over time. Now, if I'm going to make something, the action is purposeful; watercolor paintings for the crew silent auction, a pumpkin riding a bicycle for a flyer, curtains so I can put up a plant shelf and not have to deal with raising/lowering blinds behind the plant shelf (haha, so long, stupid blinds!).
I keep thinking about Cynthia Doyon this weekend, for some reason. I believe that, when she shot herself, she felt deeply alone, despite the fact that she had a tremendous positive impact on the lives of so many people in Seattle. She was my Saturday night companion while reading books.
What I mean to say is, even when we're alone, our actions are still important in the context of times when we are not alone. It's a cloak to draw around oneself for a while.
