Have You Scheduled Your Solitude?

Nothing furthers my mental and emotional health more than solitude.

Nothing furthers my creativity more than solitude.

Nothing defies society and the hive mind more than solitude.

It's the only way I can blog daily. It's the only way I can write a book. It's the only way I can devise hundreds of creative projects, to end up choosing one or two of the best.

But, it's incredibly difficult to pull off.

I must schedule solitude as a recurring weekly event in my calendar. Two hours once a week is the most I can get away with currently.

I must hire a babysitter.

I must find a place for solitude, which is the hardest part. I keep list of the best places, but, lately, the library usually works.

I must be disciplined in how to approach making the most of the solitude created. I have a list of rules I must abide by to ensure writing and thinking actually gets done.

1. Eat before you go.
2. Complete any pressing tasks before you go.
3. Start work immediately. If you're at the library, do not be tempted to browse. That comes later, after work, when you can make connections to your work from a variety of books you'd never normally check out.
4. Have a plan and a result in mind.

The secret to doing anything creatively different is get out of your comfort zone and get into your own head. If it were easy, everyone would do it.