Sometimes Loneliness Is The Price Of Freedom

It is true that we are social creatures and that we need interaction to live. However, sometimes loneliness is the only way out, being presented as ‘the price of freedom’ to do what one wants.

In such conditions, the absence of company allows you to connect with your own concerns and break the ties to certain people or collective norms.

For this reason, when the ability to choose that corresponds to each person is compromised by the pressure of the environment, there are plenty of reasons to act.

It is, then, the moment when the opportunity to make decisions arises. Although it does so with a certain toll. We explain it to you.

Why is loneliness sometimes the price of freedom?

We will start by referring to a common event in China. In this country when a woman is over 25 years old and has not yet married, she is considered ‘ sheng-nu ‘. The translation would come to be ‘surplus woman’.

• Not having a partner is considered an embarrassment to her and their families. So much so that there is a real market for ‘marriageable’ young people in order to find them a husband and thus ‘normalize’ them with the demands of society.

• The one-child policy has ended in China, so the government needs to promote motherhood. But the fact that there are women who are not fulfilling their ‘natural’ function is creating a pressure that is as cruel as it is destructive.
• However, many of these girls are reacting. First against their own families and then against society itself.

They know that loneliness is the price of that freedom. They are aware that they will be rejected by closed minds. But, even so, they feel determined because ‘they are complete women’, with all the right to live as they wish.

When the pressure of the environment conditions us

The case of China is not the only one, as this desire for independence is often misunderstood. It is enough to take into account all those common stereotypes associated with being single.

• For example, when we have finished an emotional relationship, there is no shortage of someone who tells us that of “Don’t worry, you will find someone right away.” It seems that the simple event of spending time without such company was regrettable or incomprehensible.
• It is also common that some family members do not understand that we are going to live alone, that we take a trip on our own or that we like those moments of privacy to be calm with ourselves.

Thus, to this day loneliness is still assigned various negative connotations. Perhaps that is why it costs us so much to separate from some people or we feel afraid to do so. Because, in addition, we are afraid to take the step and receive criticism or inaccurate comments.

Loneliness is also an opportunity more than the price of freedom

The writer and poet Charles Bukowski made it clear to us: “Isolation is sometimes a real gift.” But this message does not mean that it is necessary to constantly disconnect from the environment, people or civilization.

• Laughter, encounters, love affairs and friendship will continue to be essential for personal well-being and balance.
• Rather, it consists of prioritizing what is beneficial to us and responds to our own interests.
• Thus, loneliness could be considered as a positive experience to face without fear.
• In fact, a study published in 2018 in the magazine Innovation in Aging reports the advantages of being alone and more when social networks are conflicting.

However, people who are able to withdraw from the surrounding ‘noise’, from the value judgments and from the expectations of others come to have more space for creativity and to shape the projects that motivate them.

The courage to choose your own path

Maybe it’s time to start debunking myths and stereotypes. Because the solitude that is chosen voluntarily does not stop constituting an act of courage.

Whoever gives in, who gives up and continues to be hooked on the train of unhappiness will continue to be captive to any cause except their own.

If to be free it is necessary to renounce certain environments and companies, perhaps this decision is not so risky.

At the end of the day it is a personal choice to build the life we ​​want to lead.