Last week I decided to go on vacation alone. Okay, I wasn't completely alone because one of my close friends from high school has a house near an NC beach and she thankfully accepted my request to come visit her; however, she informed me beforehand that she would be working almost every day and that I would have a lot of time to myself. Being the introvert that I am, I said "no worries" and didn't give a second thought to having a lot of alone time, and actually looked forward to sitting quietly on the beach.
The second day of staying with my friend, she had to work a double shift, which meant that I would be alone basically all day until late that night. I found that as a perfect opportunity to spend a day at the beach, so I packed some snacks, grabbed a towel and some sunscreen, and went on my merry way.
The first thing I learned was that being alone on the beach was quite nice. I people-watched, listened to music, and spend long periods of time silently staring at the beauty of the ocean. I even joyfully took advantage of the Italian ice cart that drives down the beach every hour.
Unfortunately, a massive head ache cut my beach time short, but I was still able to spend a couple hours on the sand. I headed back to my friend's house to take a nap and work on my homework (it's also unfortunate that school work seems to exist even on vacation). After waking up from my nap, I began to think of what I might have for dinner, so I decided to go to one of my favorite towns, Southport, to eat at one of my favorite beach restaurants.
This is when the loneliness really started to kick in.
(Dinner by the sea)
I decided to eat dinner rather early because I honestly didn't want large amounts of people to see me eating alone. Southport really is amazing so I spent some time walking around the shops (alone) and sitting in a swing by the water watching boats go by (alone). By this time I had really recognized how alone I was. Don't get me wrong, I still had a good time in my favorite place, but I realized how much better it was when I got to share it with someone else.
The day before, my friend and I had spent the whole day visiting Wilmington and Southport, and watching the sun set from the pier. As I was finishing up my "me time" day, I realized how badly I wished my friend could have been with me, to share in my happiness and to experience the relaxing day that I had.
There is nothing wrong with alone time, this trip didn't suddenly turn me into an extravert or give me anxiety about ever being alone again, but it did help me realize that some of the best things in life are only at their best when experienced with another person.
