I strongly identify with this meme 😛. Thought others here might as well. There’s this “paradox” of much preferring solitude much of the time while knowing you need other people in your corner in life.
It’s ‘funny’ because I want to interact with people, but interacting as myself means I feel drained. It’s a vicious cycle.
Are you actually alone?
No! There are thousands of bacteria living on every centimeter of your surface area!
I want to be alone, but not by myself
I have a wife and two kids and work full time managing people.
I have not felt lonely in nearly two decades, and would relish the opportunity. Any moment alone now is a brief reprieve with the knowledge it will end soon. I love my family and my job, but I miss being single and able to avoid interacting with people for a week or so at a time (outside of work).
You’re an adult. If you have the resources, and are able to maturely communicate your needs, you might as well look for a way to do it.
I know of a couple of autistic people happily married for over 10 years who, from time to time, leave the house entirely alone for either of them for almost a whole day.
I’d agree with this! I’m actually going through a divorce right now. There are a lot of reasons for it, but several of them have to do with me masking too much in one way or another around my wife and eventually not being able to do that anymore. Needing a lot more time to myself than I was getting was one of those things. I’ve really enjoyed the fact that I’m getting that alone-time now. Ultimately, for a variety of reasons, I’m glad the marriage is ending, but I really do wish I had been honest with her about my needs much sooner.
I’m not autistic but stumbled on this post. I don’t exactly see myself as an introvert but I require more time to myself than most people to feel whole. I got divorced after 15 years and my now partner of three years has learned to respect my need for alone time. We spend 3 days together on average and I really like the balance.
