Learn how to be alone

If there's one thing that helped me enormously throughout my life, is my ability to be alone and to not crave for social interactions for very long periods of time.

Truth is, I was never really the sociable type of person. I always preferred to be left alone, especially when using my computer. And while that has its disadvantages, being able to stay alone and to not search for someone to spend time with at all times can also be a huge advantage.

I vividly remember all the drama I saw in high school about breakups and girls or guys suffering because their lovers left them. But while all that is natural and it will probably happen to anyone out there, nothing surprised me more than the inability of those people to remain alone, and their desperation to be with someone no matter the cost.

I knew a lot of people in high school who were in a relationship with another person who was likely cheating on them. But it didn't matter. As long as no one was alone, it was okay. Suffering was better than being alone for some people, and I couldn't understand why. I still can't.

For me, being alone is a lot better in some scenarios than being with a person, be it a friend, a lover or a family member. It's not always the case, and sometimes I do enjoy the company of someone I like, but it's not at all times. I like being alone.

And that attitude helped me a lot in life. Being alone allowed me to learn all the things I know right now. Being alone helped me focus on my work more than on other people. Being alone helped me avoid a lot of drama that would otherwise be part of my life mainly because of my love for work and art.

I'm not saying that being alone is the best thing ever and that having a relationship or a good friendship is bad. Quite the opposite - having someone you can spend a lot of time with is great, especially if you like the other person. If you're both interested in the same things, if you both have the same goal, then good for you, spend more time together, work on the same projects, who knows, you may end up working in the same company or create one yourselves.

But don't allow yourself to be so dependent and so desperate to be with someone, anyone, that you end up forgetting about your morals and about self respect, and you start accepting anyone in your life, no matter how bad, just to have someone there.

Learn how to entertain yourself, how to be alone, and how to have a purpose in life that isn't all about finding a good friend or a good lover. Don't despise relationships of any kind, but don't be addicted to the presence of other people. Enjoy spending time with others, but don't go crying and telling everyone you're depressed the moment someone stops being your friend or lover.

Have some self respect, learn how to be with yourself, how to enjoy your own company and how to focus your attention on things that will make you happy. Relationships of any kind should be a way to enhance the happiness in your life, not an addiction that will make you desperate for anyone's attention.