On Doing Things Alone

Present author has a very, very limited social circle. In fact, it's limited to people I know vis-à-vis internet-based communications. I have been blessed to meet some absolutely amazing people this way, and while I have meet several of them in person on trips to foreign and local shores (of which I had a blast), I still lack the ability to, say, call up someone and go to a movie or a concert with another person. Admittedly, present author is rendered somewhat uncomfortable by doing things in solitary. But in a re-occurring effort to get out of my comfort zone, this author has purchased tickets to both a concert in Detroit, and Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, during which I will be staying in a hostel, in a room with 9 other people from various backgrounds and nations, both men and women, and likely of around my age. Which sounds somewhat uncomfortable, truly, but we will see how it goes. The big thing is me learning to accept that it's ok to do things alone. I don't owe explanations to anyone as to why I am doing things alone, and frankly, the positives of going to a music festival by myself are pretty apparent - I get to go to the bands I want! Nobody will disagree with me! Anxiety will certainly run through my bones when the occasion becomes closer to reality, but hopefully I will enjoy, maybe meet some cool people, and if nothing else, I get to rock out to some badass bands in the middle of a park in summer in Chicago. That alone should be worth any social awkwardness.

And then, in September, I will be going to Miami to meet one of my closets friends. This will be a 4 day weekend affair of sorts, and the challenge I will face is finding things to do during the time my friend and I are not together. This is the biggest challenge with me and traveling. I have been dying to go to Asia for years, and there's a chance I may have to suck it up and go alone. So Miami will be a good testing exercise. I will hopefully find a group of people at a hostel to hang out with or some such. Or at least learn to travel the city alone and be cool with that. If nothing else, I could go really wild in Asia and couchsurf.

And maybe this will all allow this author an ability to do things alone more often. Because too many times I tell myself not to. But really, other people do things alone all the time. There's no reason I can't, if it's something I enjoy. The same goes to you, too. Sometimes, a party of 1 is all the party one needs.