Skip to main content

How Isolation Can Actually Be a Good Thing

The majority of the United States is under some form of “shelter-in-place” or “safer at home” order right now. For some, that means holing up with a significant other, while others are with an entire family, including school-age kids. A large portion of the population, however, is home alone with nothing but their own thoughts, the occasional conversation with a food delivery driver, and a bottomless pit of Netflix. Were this any other year — a year where the world was not in the clutches of a global pandemic — that trio of circumstances might sound like a vacation. However, as the days have turned into weeks and then to months, the novelty no doubt wears thin.

We are hardwired to need at least some human interaction. Society also continually reminds us of how awful being alone feels or should feel. Prisoners are threatened with solitary confinement as the ultimate form of punishment. Most of us can’t surrender our phones for longer than 20 minutes without abandonment creeping in from the lack of social media feedback. On an existential scale, the fear of “dying alone” looms large over some of us as a fate worse than death. There is some truth to the awfulness of these things. Socializing with family, friends, and even strangers is a necessary component of our emotional well-being. However, it needn’t be a crutch or the only way that we can feel whole.

isolation relaxation window
Skynesher/Getty Images

For those feeling isolated right now, there is — or at least can be — a silver lining to being alone. It’s a matter of shifting one’s perspective. For millennia, philosophers, creative types, and proud introverts have sought escape to uncover the virtues of being utterly, blissfully alone. For some, it’s an uncomfortable feeling. If it helps to frame your situation, remember that it’s not forever (we will get through this pandemic and go outside again), and family and friends are usually just a Zoom call away.

Recommended Videos

Coping with or, more importantly, enjoying time alone may require actively developing the capacity to be alone in the first place. It can be viewed as a skill or a muscle that needs flexing. Matthew Bowker, a psychoanalytic political theorist and researcher of solitude, told The Atlantic, “It might take a little bit of work before it turns into a pleasant experience. But once it does, it becomes maybe the most important relationship anybody ever has, the relationship you have with yourself.” Bowker confirms that “a person who can find a rich self-experience in a solitary state is far less likely to feel lonely when alone.”

Let’s look at some of the potential benefits of being alone, whether for a day or six weeks.

Isolation Can Foster Creativity

For most people, just being alone is enough to stimulate their creative process. Absent other voices, constant chatter, and the mental “overhead” of socializing in public, our brains are free to wander. There’s a reason “shower thoughts” are a thing. Just being alone for 10-15 minutes while your subconscious focuses on menial tasks like rinsing your hair can foster creativity. In the face of weeks of isolation, embrace that lack of socializing head-on. Use it to tackle the creative things you never seem to have time for: write a novel, learn a new language, teach yourself to cook, or take an overnight solo camping trip. Examine all the things you promised yourself you’d do someday. Pick one, and do it.

isolation cooking show
10'000 Hours/Getty Images

Being Alone Can Boost Productivity

This seems like the most obvious benefit of being alone. Without the distraction of others, you have all the time in the world to do the things you want or need to do. This, of course, requires focus. Without a significant other or friend to hold you accountable, it’s easy to spend your free time alone on pointless exercises (see also the wild popularity of Tiger King).

You Become the Priority

With friends and loved ones around, most of us tend to shift our priorities to what others need. If your living situation provides precious little alone time, your needs and desires might disappear into the background. Being alone allows time to focus on yourself, to prioritize you. It also frees you from worrying about what other people think about what you’re doing.

isolation yoga living room relax
PeopleImages/Getty Images

Isolation Improves Concentration

In groups, humans can fall victim to a social phenomenon called “social loafing.” In the company of other people, we tend to focus less and spend minimal effort on memorizing information. This is because we anticipate that others in the group will make decisions, remember details, or keep tabs on the conversation to help “fill in the gaps.” In isolation, we have no one to fall back on but ourselves, which can ultimately improve memory and concentration.

For a comprehensive guide to embracing your alone time, check out our tips for staying physically and mentally well in isolation.

Mike Richard
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
Jeremy Allen White was born to run in the first trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
The movie follows Springsteen as he makes his album 'Nebraska.'
Jeremy Allen White in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Music biopics are all the rage these days, and Bruce Springsteen is the latest icon to get the treatment. The first trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere sees The Bear star inhabiting the role of The Boss. The film is based on Warren's Zane's book of the same name, which focuses on the period when he was making his 1982 album Nebraska.

The film is directed by Scott Cooper, who also directed Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. In the trailer, we see White embodying Springsteen as he sings "Born to Run," and we also get a lengthy monologue from Jeremy Strong's Jon Landau as he explains why Springsteen feels the need to make this album.

Read more
Tony Soprano vs. Walter White: Who is the ultimate antihero?
TV's biggest heavyweights duke it out for the antihero crown
Breaking bad season 4 screen shot

Sports fans often debate between two heavyweight legends. For basketball, it's LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Switching to tennis, you have Roger Federer fans and Rafael Nadal diehards. Debates like these are ingrained in the culture of athletics, but TV fans have their own version of this sparring match.

Tony Soprano from The Sopranos and Walter White from Breaking Bad are the two characters who still send shockwaves through every drama in the 21st century. These men were the perfect mix of good and evil. They navigated family life and the criminal underworld with cunning intelligence and ruthless risk-taking. Every show with morally gray characters at the center owes its storyboard to Walter and Tony, but which character deserves the antihero crown? This is Tony Soprano vs. Walter White for all the marbles.
Who was the more complex character?

Read more
Learn how to smoke a pipe the proper way with our guide for beginners
Let us show you the classy way to smoke a pipe
Packing a pipe

Pipe smoking is the most aesthetically distinguished way to enjoy tobacco, but you lose the classy effect if you don’t know how to smoke a pipe properly. Smoking a pipe has become a lost art, and these days, most people who engage in pipe smoking do so to achieve a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps your grandfather enjoyed a puff now and again paired with a good stiff whiskey, or maybe your goal is to emulate a pipe-smoking artist.

I know that I enjoy a good puff on a pipe now and then, and knowing the right way to enjoy a pipe has made the experience much more pleasurable for for me. Whatever the case, if you intend to take up the time-honored tradition of unwinding with a pipe like me, you should learn how to smoke a pipe the right way. And smoking a pipe is very different than smoking a cigar (except you shouldn't be inhaling either).

Read more