Time alone isn’t lonely time if you use it to figure out who’s in there.

Being by yourself and being lonely are two different states that happen to share a room. Alone turns lonely when it is unchosen and empty, which is why people fill every gap with a screen rather than risk the quiet. Given something to do inside it, that same hour is where you learn what you like when nobody is around to be impressed. Plenty of people never get a clear reading on themselves because they are never alone long enough.

Take one deliberate hour this week with no phone and no company. Walk, draw, sit somewhere. See where your head goes first.