Solitude Is Not Sickness

When some people hear about where I live, I’m always a little surprised at the comments they make about my living in an isolated fashion. Their underlying belief is clear: isolation is unhealthy.

Human beings are social animals, and most every great thing we have produced resulted from collaboration. One person cannot save the world, no matter how much we like the hero archetype. It is undeniable that social interaction lies at the core of who we are as a species.

We are hard-wired to crave company.

But why all the concern? Why do some people view isolation as indicative of someone stumbling towards peril? Maybe they are worried about someone they care for, or maybe they have experienced the loss of a person who exhibited this behavior. After all, people are adept at generalizing and projecting their personal experiences onto the behaviors of others. But, I think people’s primary concern about someone being alone is that they themselves feel lonely when they are away from others.

With our craving for social interaction comes an inherent fear of being alone. Mother Nature understood that humans had the best chance for survival if they worked as a group, so evolution made quick work of instilling within us an affinity toward group behavior and an aversion to being alone. In modern times, although we…