Life is like a marathon, in fact a number of parallel marathons.
We all start our social life together with siblings, friends, associates and classmates.
We run sporting marathons, intellectual marathons, political marathons, financial and business marathons, etc. Each marathon is different in its own way.
We all start our individual lives at some stage, bunched together. Then as the marathon progresses some stragglers are left behind, some too weak or those who meet some misfortune drop out, the average person some where in the middle and the advanced person way ahead somewhere in the lead.
We may be family and friends, and may want to run together but the waves of nature can carry us in unexpected directions and speed.
I long to be with my friends and family but I also want to run alone.
Unfortunately wanting to be alone is seen by modern society as some sort of personality shortcoming or some disorder.
To say you could not meet because you wanted to go away on holiday, party, dinner, catch a game, etc. all is acceptable. But if you say that you did not accept an invitation because you wanted to be alone, people look at you as if you are some sort of social misfit or freak.
Now the lockdown has turned everything upside down. Now all of us are virtually locked up by ourselves. It has made the person who do not dare to be alone the odd one out.
Yet being alone offers us possibly the best opportunity to truly discover ourselves.
Some of us are confused, unhappy, disappointed or enraged with what we discover about ourselves, but we cannot escape ourselves.
However, if we accept who we are with all our strengths and flaws, our achievements and failures, we will be able to accept and respect ourselves, become our own best friend and have the opportunity to build life anew at any future moment. This is one of the secrets of achieving success and realising happiness.
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