alone but not lonely

Hello Blog-o-sphere! I know it's been a while since you've heard from me and as I have been getting requests from my loyal readers I figured it's time for an entry.  I have taken most of the summer off from writing, and yes I feel a void in my life from it.  I know that when school starts up in a few short weeks I will be writing a ton again due to the fact that I am taking journalism feature writing, I work for the newspaper and I have this blog. So why not get back to it and let myself warm up before I get totally inundated, and all of my good ideas have become stagnant and over-wrought.  By nature I am someone that loves to be around people, loves to talk and generally seeks outside stimuli in my life. But this summer has brought about a different sort of lifestyle than I am naturally comfortable with, but has challenged me and grown me as a person.  This summer I have spent a tremendous amount of time alone.  Being that most of my friends and my sister have been busy traveling around and I have been in greensboro all summer.  Time alone really allows you to see what kind of person you are.  It allows you to see what you do with spare time (ex: reading vs. TV watching), how well you know yourself and how comfortable and secure you are in just being you.  I have learned that it is not a bad thing to sit alone in a coffee shop and read or to spend an evening at home drawing and watching a movie.  Not bad at all and rather the opposite.  Our culture in particular, puts such an emphasis on being paired up or in groups that people get the feeling that aloneness is negative or somehow pitiful.  I personally have realized that I am me no matter who i am with and I no longer fear being alone. This is a huge step and one that I am proud to exhibit. I hope everyone out there is lucky enough to have an extended amount of time to spend alone and to really get to know who they are and be secure in that.  After all, how do we evolve and learn things if we don't get away from our comfort zone?