T. G. I. F. Solitude

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Merriam-Webster defines solitude as:

·       the quality or state of being alone or remote from society :  seclusion

·       a lonely place (as a desert)

Examples of SOLITUDE

1.     She wished to work on her novel in solitude.

2.     He enjoyed the peace and solitude of the woods.

Synonyms

aloneness, insulation, privacy, secludedness, seclusion,segregation, separateness, sequestration,

solitariness, isolation

Synonym Discussion of SOLITUDE

            solitude, isolation, seclusion mean the state of one who is alone. 

solitude may imply a condition of being apart from all human beings or of being cut off by wish or circumstances from one's usual associates (a few quiet hours of solitude).

isolation stresses detachment from others often involuntarily (the isolation of the village in winter).

seclusion suggests a shutting away or keeping apart from others often connoting deliberate withdrawal from the world or retirement to a quiet life (lived in pastoral seclusion).

Related Words

loneliness, lonesomeness; 

vacuum; confinement,incarceration, internment, quarantine; 

retirement, withdrawal; 

ghettoization

Near Antonyms

camaraderie, companionship, company, comradeship,fellowship, society

For me, there is an implied negativity with Solitude when I read through Merriam-Webster’s definitions; and yet, I do not feel that way at all when I seek solitude because I seek an inner peace or a centering of one’s spirit or one’s internal being.  I never felt lonely but enriched and balanced and overwhelmed by silence (for instance) around me.  It is a time for reflection, contemplation, and inner bliss.

But, for you there may be a different interpretation and that’s ok and to be expected as we all are different and have different perceptions about the world in which we live.

So, 

what do you think

when you look at 

the photos below?