Indispensable Solitude

Loneliness is the unshakable truth we first encounter in the tranquil embrace of the womb. From the moment we are born into humanity, we seek to escape it. We hide in corners, letting the darkness envelop us in its quiet serenity. From our earliest years, we feel the need to return to where we came from, because on this lonely planet, we are never truly alone. We build tents to retreat into, seeking refuge from the world. Our dreams take shape in the dark, a sanctuary from the pain of reality. We always yearn for change, believing that once it arrives, everything will be different—yet deep down, we know that nothing ever really changes.

We set out to leave, yet the moment we take our first step forward, we are already searching for a way back. We resent the walls of our home, yet we spend our days longing to return to them. We attach ourselves to new objects, convinced they will transform us. We open new books, only to abandon them after the first few pages. Everything we do is an attempt not to think. But no matter how hard we try to escape our own minds, we always end up back in the darkness, thinking. Perhaps that is why we imagine hell in shadows and heaven in light.

We cling to our social circles, fearing isolation, yet we grieve the time they steal from us. We wake each morning to waste time, only to lament its loss by nightfall. We resist sleep, haunted by the thoughts that visit us in the silence, believing rest to be a waste—when in truth, we squander time in every waking moment. We enter our jobs with passion, only to grow to despise them in the years that follow. We endure years of schooling, resenting every step along the way, yet later, we look back on those days as the best of our lives. Humanity thrives on forgetting, and in the scattered remnants of what we have lost, we search for fragments of happiness.

Every time we long to be free like a bird, all we do is peck at the forgotten crumbs left behind. Everything flows forward, and the only thing that remains with us is the silhouette smiling back from the mirror.