Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

Two different parts of you are fed by opposite conditions. Anything original tends to arrive when you are alone and unobserved, because invention needs room to be foolish first. Character, on the other hand, is formed in company, where you are held to your word and corrected by people who know you. A life heavy on one and starved of the other goes wrong in a predictable direction.

Look at which of the two you have been short of lately. If it is solitude, take an unaccompanied hour this week with no input; if it is company, arrange the meal you keep postponing.