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Comment by yawboakye | Hacker News Reader

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Being alone is not related to being lonely.

In a bad marriage, you can feel more lonely than the most single person in the world.

In a big family, or in a suffocating relationship, you can dream to be alone because you need me-time to recharge the batteries, especially if you're an introvert.

It's true that humans do better in relationships that alone, but taking on long drives by yourself can be better than seeing a psychologist; reference: I rode motorcycles for 15+ years, and I've travelled the world. I miss it dearly. There is something to be said about experiencing the world for yourself and without sharing it.

Please write an article about something you enjoy so we can psychoanalyse and pathologise you in turn.

if i enjoy it there's no need to write about it: trying to capture in writing such an enjoyment, unless superficial (like in the case of the author), destroys it. if you're into football, this quote by pep guardiola captures this attitude so well. journalist have been trying hard to write about and describe lionel messi. guardiola's advice?

- "don't write about him, don't try to describe him, just watch him."

replace "him" and substitute with something you enjoy.

Nobody's supposed to write about things they like anymore because you got caught mixing up being alone with loneliness?

So you’re advocating for a world where articles are only written by people who hate the content? What a strange, sad take.

The ancient Greeks were well aware that man is a political animal, but at the same time they had an entire genre of literature romanticizing shepherds who could sit alone in the wilderness and think their own thoughts. The desire for solitude out in nature is age-old.

I'm assuming that you're not trolling so I'm going to reply. People deal in different ways to being alone. Some people abhor it. Totally, utterly despise it. It's the worst feeling in the world for them. I suspect you are in that group.

Then there are people that thoroughly enjoy being by themselves. It doesn't mean that they don't ever need company, just a lot of the time they feel a bliss being by themselves doing their own business. There is no overlap with that feeling and loneliness.

you're jumping to conclusion, my dear friend. i have spent more time alone and by myself than you can imagine, and i still do. it's one of the best things to happen to a human being.

now, being alone (stationary) isn't the same as doing an activity alone. you seem to conflate the two. if you think traveling solo is fun, well you're being sold bullshit at best, worst you're acquiescing to a terrible experience and trying to find joy in it. like a prisoner-author talking about the joys of being locked up because it afforded them the necessary solitude to contemplate.

> if you think traveling solo is fun, well you're being sold bullshit at best, worst you're acquiescing to a terrible experience and trying to find joy in it

Maybe, just maybe, people experience things differently than you, ever thought about that?

Too many people are afraid to be alone and in the silence. Almost if they are afraid to hear that they will say to themselves.

I have noticed this also, like some people need to be surrounded by a bubble of noise that disconnects them from others - even in fairly remote situations.

The next person I see who is blasting music from their idiotic bluetooth speakers up on a remote hilltop is going to have to be taken off the bottom of the nearest corrie by the Mountain Rescue Team.

I just argued against the OP by referring to the ancient Greek (and Roman) genre of bucolic poetry, but here, too, I should note that that same genre depicted the wilderness as a good place to play one’s flute or lyre. Maybe people with Bluetooth speakers are just continuing an ancient tradition.

I don't think the author talks about loneliness. He talks about the experience of driving alone. Which everyone can do. Take it at face value.

And even if it would be about loneliness, there's nothing wrong in connecting with people over internet.

I do think everyone should travel alone at least once. I allows you to discover yourself.

Solitude is essential for mental health, especially for introverts. There's nothing lonely about solitude when you know you have friends, family, and love waiting for you at the end of the trip.

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