Solitude

Solitude is the lack of contact with people. Solitude has positive and negative effects on people.

Positive effects

Solitude is the pleasure of being alone. It allows people to focus and make good decisions.^[1] Solitude allows people to think deeply and to pray. Prayer in solitude gives many people a sense of peace.^[2]

Many writers, musicians, and artists create in solitude. Songwriters and poets often write about solitude. Poetry gives comfort to people who feel alone.^[3] Poems give positive perspectives on being alone.^[3] Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Octavio Paz, Giannina Braschi, Donald Hall, and Anne Sexton wrote poems about solitude. Philosophers who encouraged solitude include Lao Tzu, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Virginia Woolf. Woolf wrote a famous essay called "A Room of One's Own" about writing in solitude and privacy.^[4] and privacy. 

Negative effects

Too much solitude can cause feelings of loneliness. Social isolation creates health problems, such as dementia, depression, anxiety, and suicide.^[5] People who suffer from chronic loneliness can get help from medical professionals, including doctors, psychologists, and spiritual leaders.^[6][7]

Related pages

• Existential crisis
• Social isolation
• Loneliness