There’s something both deeply comforting and deeply uncomfortable about being alone for an extended period of time.

It’s uncomfortable because there are no distractions. No one else’s needs or wishes making us feel needed and important. No one else’s conversation or questions to fill the void. There is no nothing to keep us from the things that are in our own hearts and minds.

The comfort doesn’t come until you’ve gone through the discomfort.

And that’s why taking time to be alone is so important to me.

I loved my solo camping trip to the Bunya Mountains. I liked learning how to set up my tent by myself and make sure it didn’t get blown away in the gales that howled through the valley. I liked learning how to work the gas bottle stove, set up my little kitchen area, and make the tent nice and snug with a comfy chair, rug on the floor, and too many mattresses.

And then, when the work was done, I liked sitting quietly with the discomfort of alone-ness.

In such moments, I find it helpful to have a notebook for writing and sketchpad for drawing. I’ve found that when I’m truly alone, truly quiet, a lot of stuff is going to start coming up. And I can stuff it right back down to where it came from, or I can set it free through writing or drawing.

I did a lot of both on that trip. Especially in the quiet of early morning when the rest of the camp site was sound asleep, and it was just me, grazing wallabies, and heavy mist snaking down from the mountains.

I brewed my coffee, wrapped myself in my most cheerful pashmina, and let whatever needed to be addressed, express itself through rambling sentences and colorful sketches.

I wrote and drew my way through friendships and marriage, family and work, fear and finances, courage and hope, gardens and medieval stuff, insecurities and triumphs, secret wishes and fledgling dreams. They all tumbled out, bringing with them healing and understanding and clarity and comfort.

Soon the sun would rise, burning off the mist, illuminating the trees, and setting the wallabies fur aglow.

There’s something so wonderful about morning light. It brings such a clean, fresh hope to the day.

With those first rays, I tucked my notebooks away, made breakfast while baby wallabies came up to watch, then sat back to eat while the bush turkeys and wallabies provided my mealtime entertainment.

After a hearty breakfast, I donned my hiking gear, loaded my backpack, and headed deep into the rainforest for some quality alone time in nature.

I’ll tell you more about that next time.

What do you like to do with your precious alone time? xo