Monday, April 27, 2009

A New Wrinkle - Sometimes, I Am Truly Alone


I have not been writing, and that is obvious, and doesn't require a post. Actually, I have been writing but, afterward, not posting what I have written. Therefore, this is an attempt to not clamp down and edit myself with so much of an iron fist. This will almost be a simple effort with not much thought behind it and maybe surprise myself in whatever gets expressed. So, here we go.

There are many ways to be alone. One may feel alone as if misunderstood, or by not having any one around that shares the same views or ideologies. One may be alone in their thoughts. In that regard, there are many ways to elect to be alone - but that is by choice. The other immediate means to be alone (at least what springs to mind) are to be in new surroundings or a foreign environment and realize the loss of a support network. One may be alone as far as having special people with whom to give and receive affection. One may dwell on their "alone-ness" which is in and of itself a lonely pursuit that may cause a sort of "suffering for one's beliefs" alone. If any of these and more are made into a personal campaign then the very deliberate seeking to isolate oneself may certainly precipitate paranoia to validate an overactive or acute recognition of just how alone one truly is.

I have not reached the last stage but am monitoring myself so that I do not become more comfortable in being disconnected and detached from other people. As it stands all ready, my neighbors express concern that they do not even see me leave my front door for weeks at a time. I have become extremely content to be antisocial. Now, previous decisions included the need to find something within myself and not rely on external motivations for a desire to live and grow. That resulted in a conclusion that I could not date. Further evaluation allowed for no concessions in that need to sequester myself. I still believe I have not established myself to any recognizable and distinguishable degree. To pursue an amorous relationship would distract me or erase whatever attempt at flying solo I have made. As a corollary to that I am not financially established to a sufficient degree to offer stability in that regard, either. I am quite simply a mess. When I measure where I am to where I would like to be I am very singularly placed. And yet another form of being alone is to stand on the conviction that I am doing the right thing.

All of this brings me to a place of once again contending with the fact that for some of us life will never be extraordinarily pleasant. The measure of my convictions and actions really can not be compared to or judged against my contentment and happiness. Some of us have a degree of personal pain, loss and suffering that has nothing to do with anyone's preferences or choices. It is remarkable to have to allow for that. I certainly take blame for my actions and decisions having set the scene for some of what has occurred in my life but there is absolutely no accounting for all of it or even most of it as being due to my sabotaging myself or making foolish choices. I am not imagining some vain explanation for all of this but I do have strong conviction from observation that I am able to lead others away from and around such personal loss, for themselves, far more often than I must stand back and watch them go through the deepest of it. I believe it is why I have the friends that I do. They value my opinion and I honestly don't tell them so much what I think they should do (although those words come out of my mouth) but more what to consider and choose to avoid. But, in that I seem to be alone, too.

Thus, here I sit in the very early morning hours feeling frustrated, defeated and alone. I am back to feeling like I am a one man support network for everyone else and can not get one single thing I need for me. I am very horribly alone. Even to express that I feel I am giving and not getting is a hazard to me. I am now additionally burdened with concern for all of my friends who will read this and take offense. Again, I may need to soothe and comfort the wounded or try to explain to the sincerely and genuinely well-meaning that their greatest intentions can not possibly translate into tangible proof for me because they are there and I am, here . . . Alone.

2 comments:

mary said...

You know how easily I can get offended but not this time. No chance. You did a good job making your point.

Since I’m not a native speaker of English I am bound to have a different relationship with the language. I always try to find little tricks to remember some words, to build word transformations, to play with vocabulary. I always relate and often make virtual, never-written lists in my head and bring words together which are derived from the same stem, compile words very similar in appearance, or collect synonyms. From the second lot I am thinking of, for example, the accept/except/expect or the success/access convo. How I love confusing my students! LOL All three are excellent ways to build up one’s vocabulary. I think the keyword is to RELATE, to find some means to REMEMBER.

You might think why on earth I respond to your blog post with such seemingly unrelated topic. Well, nothing is unrelated. As long as we have the ability to think we can always find a mode to bring two ideas together, in other words, to relate. So after having read your post I immediately thought of some synonyms for the primal word of your post, “alone”. Words like ISOLATED, REMOTE, DESERTED, DESOLATE, LONESOME, SOLITARY, FORLORN, SINGLE, APART, FORSAKEN, FRIENDLESS, UNACCOMPANIED came into my mind. So many words, such hard feelings. But of course, even if you are isolated, solitary and lonesome, you are not necessarily deserted, forsaken or/and friendless. Though apart and desolate, not unaccompanied and so on. I could go on forever, the variations are endless.

Well, all I want to say we are a little bit of everything. We have our ups and downs, how we feel a moment don’t or at least shouldn’t infect or drive every waking moment of our lives. I know you would protest this blog post was only meant to capture a flash, a single jiffy of your life...a persistent and a recurring one I might add. I understand that. We are misfit toys, misplaced and mismatched products of our own cruel environment called RL. We are a little bit of this and that, a constant change of good and bad, of hopes and hopelessness. Yes, you are there and we are here and the two never coincides in the laws of physics, still, we are THERE and you are HERE. It’s your choice how to perceive, what to feel and THINK. Does it make sense? It’s all relational.

Anonymous said...

I truely believe what goes around comes around...you are a good person who should expect good things to come..and they will in time..
You do however need to learn which poeple in your life drain your soul..they pull the plug on your very essense leaving nothing for yourself..people that do that to you need to sometimes be set aside..or i fear they will consume you and simply spit you out when they have had their fill..
Helping other people fullfills a yearning to feel connected to people..to friends..but it becomes temporary when you look around you and realise there is no one left for just you..you need to remeber a true friend asks nothing from you but only to take care of yourself..to think about yourself and be a little selfish sometimes..and a true friend told me a similar thing once..a real friend will be the one who can sit in contented silence with you..and friendships are about quality not quantity.. x x