sourabh's blog

notes, lessons, and observations on books, cinema, and the human condition

Need for Solitude

In solitude alone do I meet myself.

I meet a lot of people and become queasy. Then I come across a mirror and see an aging man — Sorry, I say to him — I don’t know why. Maybe it’s all my mistake.

Perhaps I don’t know how to live.

But I am not a pessimist. So when I have time, I try to find a moment of solitude. Sitting by myself doesn’t feel bad.

Rather, free, that feels close.

And I pick a book to read, or lie down and watch blankly at a wall or a spider working at its web.

And just like that — in an hour or so, without doing anything without talking to anyone, without scrolling reels — the world seems to loosen the grip of my throat … I start feeling better.

Weariness starts wilting away and I feel washed with new zest. I wander off and if I catch a look in a mirror. I am not that fucked, I think. And that feels better.

Solitude keeps me at some distance from breaking down. And I plan on clinging to it with a tight grip.

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