Alone
I am overwhelmed by the number of people who read and responded to my answer on Quora about living alone. It's astonishing. In the first 24 hours, that one answer had 58,000 views, and it's not slowing down this morning. It was shared 20 times with 71 comments, many sent to me as private messages. There wasn't anything provocative about the post other than to say there is a lot of freedom in living alone.
When I was searching for an image for this post, all of the images under "alone" in the stock photo catalog were these pictures of single individuals looking depressed. I picked the above image because it's close to the truth about life alone. I'm still among others. It's not like I've been banished from society.
The topic has brought me some of the most heartfelt and grounded messages I've ever received on Quora. It's as if all of these people somehow live in the world a little differently and are much more authentic. They write with greater purpose and clarity, and it's leading me to believe that this community of people going about their lives alone is a massive group, and completely ignored in society. It has me thinking about how to best connect this group with topics that matter to them. I don't think they are looking to connect with others as much as they are looking for validation, knowing there is nothing wrong with who they are.
We make no apologies for choosing to live alone, and we're far from dysfunctional. In fact, the people that are writing to me are some of the best writers on Quora. I'm impressed! These people are writing with extreme clarity and original thought.
The challenge of addressing this audience is that grouping everyone together almost runs as a contradiction to who these people are in the first place. They are the real rebels, quiet as they may seem. I would call it quiet self-confidence with no shortage of inner strength.
I even had a few write to me who long to be alone and are more interested in knowing what it's like and what it will someday mean to them. I'll have a lot more to say about this topic as I dig a little further. I just wanted to write a post to say that I hear you and that I've got some ideas in my head that I'm still kicking around.