The Power of Solitude:Why Being Alone is Essential for Growth

When was the last time you were truly alone, with no distractions, no notifications, no agenda?

I know that solitude is extremely important to me.

Just over a year ago my mother died. It has taken me a while to start writing here again and now feels like the right time. In the time since she died, solitude has been a real friend. Time for me to reflect, time to feel grief and loss; but also time to feel grateful for a wonderful, loving Mum and to let my thoughts and feeelings run. I make time for solitude every day, even if just for a few minutes, but usually for longer. Any time of day is good, but I have found early mornings to be best, this time sets me up for the best day possible. It is where I do my best thinking and when I get my best ideas.

I think that solitude is often misunderstood. To my mind it is the state of being alone without feeling lonely. It is a deliberately chosen and often restorative choice to spend time with myself, free from external distractions and social interactions. It is not about withdrawing from the World, rather it is about intentionally creating space for personal reflection, mental clarity, creativity or simply just for rest. Unlike loneliness, which is a feeling of disconnection and longing for social contact, I experience solitude as peaceful, grounding and empowering.

So what do I find are the key benefits of solitude? Solitude allows my mind to settle, allowing me to process thoughts and gain perspective, helping me find clarity. It enhances my creativity, many of my creative breakthroughs happen in quiet, un-distracted moments when I am alone. Time alone helps me to recognise my emotions and manage them better. Without external inputs, I am able to get closer to my values and to my true identity. When I’m away from noise and interruptions I can focus more deeply, and this boosts my productivity. Solitude allows me time to reflect and feel grateful for my life.

Would you benefit from carving out some time for solitude in your life?

Solitude

A morning walk, time for solitude, time to think…

Exmouth Beach this morning…

After I drop my son at school, I go for a walk. Apart from avoiding the rush hour traffic for my return home I try to walk somewhere beautiful. This walk makes for a great start to my day. I walk alone, sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes an hour, if I have the time; I reflect on what is going on in my life, the lovely people in it, what I will do that day, sometimes I wrestle with the more difficult issues. Alone and moving in the great outdoors is the best place to work things out, it is a quiet time for me and I love it. The view this morning was beautifully inspiring and this can help! But, I have also found that the habit of creating some time for solitude at the start of every day can have profoundly positive effects on the whole day, no matter where I am.

We are all leaders. In our families, in our workplaces and in our own lives. Creating time for some solitude provides a space to slow down, to reflect, to plan, to become better leaders.

Solitude, its importance and how to maximise its benefits is a theme I will come back to. For now, if you have a chance, find some time to be alone, to reflect, think, plan - and if you can do this whilst moving in the great outdoors, so much the better!

Why This Happy Warrior?

‘Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he

That every man in arms should wish to be?’

These lines open the 1806 poem, Character of the Happy Warrior, written by the great British poet, William Wordsworth. The poem is of its time, it describes the ideal warrior, the man in arms, and commemorates Lord Horatio Nelson, who fell at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The poem asks a series of rhetorical questions to which no answer is expected or given. Wordsworth does not even name Nelson. It offers encouragement to think and reflect on what it means to be a ‘happy warrior’ - to live a good and meaningful life, to inspire and lead others and to be guided by virtue, by a strong inner light, by values. It has meaning for anyone who would like to live their best life.

It is a long and quite difficult poem - It is however my first blog…please read it and enjoy it if you have a mind to…!!

Character of the Happy Warrior

By William Wordsworth

Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he

That every man in arms should wish to be?

-It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought

Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought

Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:

Whose high endeavours are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright;

Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;

Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,

But makes his moral being his prime care;

Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,

And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!

Turns his necessity to glorious gain;

In face of these doth exercise a power

Which is our human nature’s highest dower:

Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves

Of their bad influence, and their good receives:

By objects, which might force the soul to abate

Her feelings, rendered more compassionate;

Is placable - because occasions arise

So often that demand such sacrifice;

More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,

As tempted more; more able to endure,

As more exposed to suffering and distress;

Thence, also more alive to tenderness.

-Tis he whose law is reason; who depends

Upon that law as on the best of friends;

Whence, in a state where men are tempted still

To evil for a guard against worse ill,

And what in quality or act is best

Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,

He labours good on good to fix, and owes

To virtue every triumph that he knows:

-Who if he rise to station of command,

Rises by open means; and there will stand

On honourable terms or retire,

And in himself possess his own desire;

Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait

For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;

Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,

Like showers of manna, if they come at all:

Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,

Or mild concerns of ordinary life,

A constant influence, a peculiar grace;

But who, if he be called upon to face

Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined

Great issues, good or bad for human kind,

Is happy as a Lover; and attired

With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;

And through the heat of conflict, keeps the law

In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;

Or if an unexpected call succeed,

Come when it will, is equal to the need:

-He who, though thus endued as with a sense

And faculty for storm and turbulence,

Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans

To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;

Sweet images! which, whereso’er he be,

Are at his heart; and such fidelity

It is his darling passion to approve;

More brave for this, that he hath much to love:-

’Tis, finally, the man, who, lifted high,

Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye’

Or left unthought-of-in-obscurity, -

Who, with a toward or untoward lot,

Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not-

Plays, in the many games of life, that one

Where what he most doth value must be won:

Whom neither shape or danger can dismay’

Nor thought of tender happiness betray;

Who, not content that former worth stand fast,

Looks forward, persevering to the last,

From well to better, daily self-surpast:

Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth

For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,

Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,

And leave a dead unprofitable name-

Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;

And while the mortal mist is gathering, draws

His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:

This is the happy Warrior: this is he

That every man in arms should wish to be.