09/11/2025

ON SUNDAY November 9, 2025 II theSunday Special

City stillness … being alone doesn’t mean being lonely.

Solitude is not loneliness Loneliness is the ache of disconnection, a sense that you’re unseen, unheard or left behind, even in the presence of others. Solitude, on the other hand, is chosen. It’s intentional. It’s the space where you PHHW \RXUVHOI DJDLQ ± QRW WR ¿[ DQ\WKLQJ but to listen. In our hyper-connected world, we’ve VWDUWHG WR FRQÀDWH EHLQJ DORQH ZLWK EHLQJ LUUHOHYDQW 7KH PRPHQW ZH ¿QG D SDXVH we feel we should be catching up – with someone, with something, with the world. It’s not just a distraction anymore; it’s a

Solitude is the rebellion that roots you inward.”

FRQGLWLRQHG UHÀH[ %XW FRQVWDQW RXWZDUG attention gradually dulls our inner aware ness. Over time, we lose the ability to feel at ease in our own company. You don’t have to be an introvert to enjoy solitude. You just have to build the muscle for it. At first, silence feels unnatural. Stillness can seem like laziness. Your mind may try to escape it. But if you stay – just a little longer each time – some thing shifts. You begin to hear your own thoughts without trying to silence them. You allow your emotions to surface without labelling them. You follow your mind’s wanderings and discover it still has ideas of its own. That discomfort? It’s often the mind relearning how to breathe.

When solitude becomes a skill, it can anchor you instead of isolating you Alone without feeling lonely

Time alone, with intention … is one of the most humanising things we can do

BY SIMON VELLA

Even in a peaceful room, being alone can feel like a threat – especially when we’ve spent so much of modern life trying to avoid it. Many of us think we’re comfortable with solitude. We might even pride our selves on it – solo café visits, quiet walks, independent living. But often, those mo PHQWV DUH ¿OOHG ZLWK EDFNJURXQG QRLVH music, scrolling, group chats, mindless browsing. We may be physically alone, but men tally we’re in 15 places at once, keeping up with messages, headlines, updates and other people’s lives. Aloneness that lacks presence isn’t really solitude. It’s simply disconnection dressed up as indepen dence – with Wi-Fi.

Y OU’RE home. It’s quiet. There are no meetings, no visitors, no emergencies. Just … you. You have time. But instead of relaxing into the stillness, your PLQG EHJLQV WR ¿GJHW