Solitude and Creativity: I left the Corporate World to Work Alone

Loneliness, Solitude, and Silence May Be Your Key to Creativity

Being a freelancer is a lonely journey, but solitude has helped me with my creativity. 

I left the corporate world to freelance and write. From an office of 12 to 15 people, I now report to work on my bed or the room next door. Occasionally I get visits from my dog, who demands more attention than any workmate I have known. 

Even if I work at home with my family, they live their own lives and attend to things far exchanged from the world online work has placed on my shoulders. Although physically in the company of household members, mentally I felt like a lone ranger. 

There is no doubt that remote work is a part of the new normal that Elon Musk might have gotten wrong. Millions of workers fill the remote world, many of who may be working alone by the beach or, like me, surrounded by people but alone in the workload. 

In the loneliness of the Tiktoker creating in one’s room and being an independent contractor, there are a few things about solitude and how it helps build your creativity as a creator, freelancer, remote employee, or entrepreneur. 

Here are four points I have learned about solitude and creativity. 

1. Ideas Can Come from Sitting Alone in a Crowded Room 

I sat alone at a cafe, laptop out, order in, and keys tap tap tapping away. 

Laptop open, the premise of this blog post was born. 

In my lonesome, ideas formed, perspectives grew, and research began.

Surrounded by people I knew or at home with family, the thought may have never crossed my mind.  So I am grateful for the solitude and began looking into how your creativity could gain from it too.

This Inc article reminds us how solitude can help you ignite your creative spark and grow thoughts. 

2. Silent Nights  and Loud Thoughts

In silence, I hear myself clearly. 

In the stillness of the night, thoughts flow, and my mind finds more focus. Cozy and typing away in bed, I am not distracted by the need to get up for chores, food, or a cup of water. My thoughts can go on uninterrupted, accompanied by the rhythm of the deep slow breaths of sleeping souls. 

It was in the stillness of the night when I stepped into the cold air and witnessed my first real shooting star (not those faint streaks you catch from the corner of your eyes). This star glowed, bright tail following suit for a second before it vanished behind a hill. 

At that moment, I had clarity. All alone and in the dark, the troubles I faced felt irrelevant. That night, I made a life decision that is still with me today. 

I realized how the silence of the night was a power in itself. The stars were dancing above unbeknownst to the souls in peaceful slumber, and the moon beamed its silver light through the window panes.

The world at night feels like another dimension the mind could wade in. I specifically liked how Haruki Murakami in the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle painted solitude in the night as a world where you could bathe in the moon’s silver pool. Check out my blog post about the book here. 

Allowing yourself to live in the beauty of silence can take your thoughts to brighter, and louder dimensions. A place where colors are more vibrant, and your thoughts are clear and crisp. 

This Entrepreneur article talks about tips to help you hone into silence and add it to your daily routine. 

3. Gain Confidence in Solitude and Your Ideas

This four-year-old girl strutted through the room, head held high and hair bouncing behind her. 

Her playmates were all older than her. Only what she wanted to play had to be done. Her playmates should not have chosen otherwise. If she was not the center of the game, it was over. She stomped away—angry at the defiance, searching for a way to make things right according to her terms.

Though walking away alone, she was confident. No hint of self-pity floated around her; I admired her spunk. 

Solitude has a lot to do with your confidence.  Traveling, waiting at a restaurant alone, and walking alone are things many are not innately comfortable doing. 

There was a cousin of mine who always pointed out that she saw me about town alone. At that time, I really did not mind. I strive for the confidence to travel all alone. Discover new places and find myself on the brink of a new adventure.

To this day I am still gathering the courage to do so.

This TEDx Talk by Niqolas Rudd talks about how he built his confidence in solitude and found better motivation alone.

4. Loneliness Helps Creating

The creative process in the art scene is very lonely. Though collaborative in a work setting, ideas stem from solo flights of the mind. 

This BBC article lists a few examples of how artists have navigated their lonesome and how that has helped craft their art. 

The same TEDx Talk I mentioned, discussed how solitude and being alone were tools of Einstein and Tesla.

Loneliness helped them create.

Blog posts are solo efforts. My words and ideas come from me staring at a screen while sitting alone in a quiet room, pen and paper in hand.

As someone who is not as adept with social media as I wished, I feel like I am working my way through the dark. No one is there to guide me. It is lonely.

Even so, the deep darkness gave me ideas and pushed me to learn.

The loneliness in my endeavor is daunting and can be devouring.

Without an intimate soul to shed my fears and concerns about this process, the pain of failure and the thorns of self-doubt swallow me up at times.  No living soul knows, no hand pierces through the dark to save me. 

I learned that as I started on this path alone, alone I will see myself through. 

Many artists face their tormented mentality alone, and, in their solo journey, they create on paper, on canvas, and even now on video. 

This Inc article links solitude to success. The challenge in the article may just be the push you need to create things for yourself, understand yourself, and go after your goals. 

The success of the different artists and visionaries is some proof of how solitude has helped their process and creation.

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So choose the silence, enjoy the solitude and be confident in your loneliness.