The Fear of Being Alone

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought. Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”

The fear of being alone is one of the most powerful forces in human behavior. It drives us into relationships that do not serve us. It keeps us in situations we have outgrown. It makes us say yes when we mean no, and stay when we should go.

But there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. And there is a difference between choosing solitude and being abandoned.

The person who has never learned to be alone with themselves is always at the mercy of others' presence. They need company to feel okay. And that need makes them vulnerable to accepting any company, regardless of its quality.

Learning to be alone — genuinely, peacefully alone — is one of the most liberating things a person can do. It means your okayness does not depend on anyone else's presence.

Related Reflections

Themes that often travel alongside fear.