# Chapter 72

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Blaise Pascal

I am dreading going back to my dad’s place today. After a week of great views and great work in the far North East, because not only did have those two things, I also had quiet. Solitude. Silence. Beautiful natural smells in the air, and no chicken manure. Not a great deal of these benefits, but enough to matter. I will get none of these in Georgia. And since my dad can’t or won’t sit alone and quiet, neither do I get to have that luxury.

And it is indeed a luxury . . . and a discipline. Most people reach for their Smartphones the second there is a gap in the talk or in the distraction of life, most people are just like my dad, never a moment of stillness, quiet, silence, or solitude. Even in the bathroom, they invite others along via their phone, and social lives intertwined there via their phones.

So many people around me complain and feel the pain of loneliness and being alone, whereas I am the opposite as I actively seek to be alone and to have more solitude. Never do I feel lonely. Its terrible that so many people do feel lonely and alone, but honestly folks, I think this is precisely what Pascal was talking about 400 years ago. To ever be fully comfortable with yourself, you have to spend some quality time with yourself. I meet few people who ever do this. Yet it is a powerful and necessary part of being the best version of you. This is exactly why the world is in the condition it is today. Be the one who changes this. Spend some time with you. If you discover that you don’t like you, then lets become someone you do enjoy. The world will benefit from your solitude.