Reviews - The Art of Being Alone: Solitude Is My Home, Loneliness Was My Cage

73 reviews for:

The Art of Being Alone: Solitude Is My Home, Loneliness Was My Cage

Good read - these are things I've been mulling over for some time, but the author codified a lot of this. She's in her 20s, but has a lot of good points. I took a lot of notes and I'll be stewing on this more

ann_16's review

4.25

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

hold_me's review

5.0

hopeful informative lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

madrasbookguru's review against another edition

5.0

It is always good to be alone, even if you are surrounded by a large number of people. However, make sure you don’t feel lonely ever, and know the bloody difference between being alone and feeling lonely.

This is a no-BS primer on how to live a fulfilling, noise-free life (whether it is people, things, or negative feelings) being alone and becoming addicted to embracing solitude for your personal and professional growth.

Renuka, a 20-something woman, the author of this self-help handbook, and an introvert from a small town, shares her “being alone” journey and presents the readers with many useful trinkets of thoughts to ponder and inculcate in our everyday routine for a value-added, better life.

Ms Gavrani talks about self-love, self-knowledge (knowing about yourself, not philosophical, of course), and self-discipline through her own life of being an introverted shy girl until she knew her goal (becoming a writer/blogger) and started working towards that by self-motivating, which she shares with the larger audience through her tiny book.

The author is straightforward and blunt in blaming society (especially the entertainment industry and social media) for how we have been tuned to believe that being alone is synonymous with being sad, being broke, and being depressed.

Rather, she encourages us to accept and cherish the me-time and gives a whole different meaning to “being alone”, which is a privilege that has to be made full use of for one’s own individual growth.

She says that the only person who will be with you until you die is “YOU”, so you better know that “YOU” and love yourself with all your shortcomings and flaws (self-acceptance). This is the first step towards your personal growth—knowing about yourself: your likes, dislikes, goals, preferences, etc.

Then comes the process of “being true to yourself”—that is, not living according to the path paved by our society, including your family members and friends.

On the contrary, show your individuality and be unique in every sense possible, and don’t lose your true “YOU”.

The author gives readers some exercises to practise to get into the focused zone of “being alone” and living a satisfied life of your own choice with her no-nonsense tips and tricks.

Once you are comfortable with yourself being alone (you are your best friend), then it is time to make use of that period for your growth, which includes your goals, preferences, hobbies, and whatnot, to become a high-value person.

She gives various examples of successful people from all walks of life from the world’s history who had been addicted to being alone and occupied with their goals.

Renuka introduces later in the book to concepts called “action plans” and “action goals” to live the life of your dreams according to your needs and wants. A most practical tip one can follow to achieve when you put your thoughts into achievable actions of your desire.

Overall, the author has put in simple and effective ways for anyone who wants to self-improve himself/herself to follow a life’s road map of their own and be focused to fulfil their goals being alone, which is the whole truth.