Solitary traveling

Dining solo is considered sad. Watching a movie solo is deemed suspicious. Traveling solo is downright dangerous.

And I have done all three.

I don't mind being alone. But rather than a sign that there might be something wrong with me, I regard my enjoyment of solo activities a badge of mental health: I like me enough to spend time with myself. 


I love watching a movie by myself. I started doing this in college, when no one I knew was interested in watching the movies I wanted to see. This grew into a habit during medical school, when I lived right beside a shopping mall. Some nights, the words on my textbook would begin to slide across the page toward the edges and spine and the only way to cope was to catch the last full show at the mall and get my head together. 

I love traveling solo. No one to criticize my chronic inability to pack light. No one (else) messes up the toilet or hogs the safe. 

There is so much stigma attached to doing stuff by yourself it is absolutely stifling. If a person may only be out in public if and only if accompanied by another, we'd be spending way to much time at home being, drumroll please, alone.