It’s a generally accepted assumption that God created Eve because Adam was lonely. He needed another person to experience his new surroundings with him and relish the wonders the world had to offer.
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It’s a generally accepted assumption that God created Eve because Adam was lonely. He needed another person to experience his new surroundings with him and relish the wonders the world had to offer. Thus the concept of companionship was created and the human race divided into various groups, cliques, and support systems.
Before you assume that this would be another one of those articles about “10 types of groups you’ll see at LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences”, well ... you’re wrong. This article is an ode to the loners, the backbenchers, the wanderers, the ones who don’t belong to any group and stare at companionship in the eye and walk away; a more politically correct term to describe them would be ‘introverts’.
It’s, of course, an outdated notion to label people and fit them into constricting categories. But everyone, at least at some point in their lives, willfully drifted away from the noise, the laughter and the humdrum of people mingling with each other, and eventually became an atom lost amidst a cluster of nuclei.
At the start of my first ever semester at LUMS I had fully intended to mingle with every single group I encountered: the nerds, the athletes, the plastics, the stoners, the jokers and so on. I had lurked in the shadows for too long in my school years and aimed to make as many friends as I could. I wanted to be a LUMS socialite, minus the extravagant parties. In this endless pursuit, at the end of the first month I was left with no real friend. You see, when you make so many friends at once it is difficult to sift the real ones from the fake ones.
Therefore, I made the decision to remain that way for a while and let my company choose me rather than me choosing it myself. Being alone not only allowed me to have that much- needed nap that I was deprived of while being out all night with my friends, it also allowed me to reflect and shed all the armour (literal and figurative) that I put up to survive through the day. I was free to blast Classical Music in my room and experiment with my clothes without having my friends rolling their eyes at me. For once, my brain had countless new ideas, which I penned down and developed.
When I wasn’t surrounded by friends, I started to notice the beauty in little things. Like, the way the sunlight sifted through the windows while I sipped my morning tea in the cafeteria. Most importantly, I realized how strong I was when I was truly all by myself. Having a fever and flu while juggling two essay deadlines, I had to reign in my Wonder Woman strength. By the end of it I was surprised how I did it with no assistance at all.
Self-appreciation is also something you might miss out by being among people other than yourself. You may have countless people complimenting you, but at the end of the day, you need that assurance from none other than yourself. This is aptly summed up by Charlotte Bronte who said: “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
So the next time you see someone sitting alone on a bench in the middle of the night laughing at themselves, don’t run frantically to the nearest hiding place. You’re safe. Walk a bit fast, just in case.
