JULIE FROMM / ASST. OPINION EDITOR

While senior year for many — myself included — means job searching and assignment-avoiding, it also means soaking up as much time with your friends as you can. When my sister graduated from college and moved into an apartment alone, the thing she told me she missed the most about her college life was coming home from class to hangout on the couch with her  roommates. I knew how precious this time was, and at the beginning of this semester, I prioritized spending time with my friends over everything. When I wasn’t sleeping or in class, I was at their houses. 

As fun as that was, I started to feel emotionally drained by the end of the day. I realized I wasn’t spending  enough time with myself, and I wasn’t taking care of myself the way that I should have been. The idea of not spending all of my time with them in my last few months of school felt terrible, but not having time to myself felt worse. 

Now, I have found a healthy balance  between spending time with friends and spending time alone. It has taken me years to understand, but alone time is not a bad thing — it’s actually a great thing. 

Despite the pull toward hanging out with my friends, I have always felt better when I prioritize alone time. As someone who leans more toward the introverted side, my social battery tends to run out rapidly when I go out with friends. It’s not that I don’t love spending time with them, but having time to recharge and check in with myself is crucial to maintaining my happiness and well being. 

Kendra Cherry, a writer who focuses on teaching students about psychology, wrote “When you have time for  yourself, you get the chance to break free from social pressures and tap into your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences.” 

Having dedicated time to yourself is a great way to step away from the stresses of your daily life and focus on what you really want and need. 

From a young age, my mom told me that it was extremely important to be  able to keep yourself entertained. This may have been because  she didn’t always want to play with Barbies with me, but it has stuck with me and helped me throughout my adult life. Because I learned from a young age how to be happy in solitude, and that being alone and being lonely are different things, I don’t rely on other people for my happiness. I don’t feel anxious or experience fear of missing out when I spend a night in. 

In fact, I prefer it sometimes, as it gives me the opportunity to do things that I often brush aside as unimportant, like being transfixed on a great book series or taking the extra few minutes to separate my laundry into lights and darks. These may seem like small things, but they bring me a great deal of peace and comfort. 

During my first year of college, I hardly ever spent time alone. I was sharing  a room  with  another person for the first time, and I couldn’t fathom eating  anywhere on campus by myself. I could hardly walk to class without being on the phone with someone or having music blasting through my headphones. Being in a new environment made me nervous and uncomfortable, and I relied on my friendships for stability and distraction. At the time, this worked out great, but as the years went by, I realized that I was pushing my own needs  aside  and  wasn’t  in  touch  with myself the way I was in high school. 

Now, as a senior in college, I live alone and am able to spend as much time with my friends as I want with the comfort of knowing that at the end of the day I get to go home and spend time with myself. I prioritize writing in my diary every day to get out any worries or frustrations. I go for walks in the morning and sometimes leave my headphones behind, as they can feel like a distraction from my thoughts. I take myself on “self-dates” by doing things like going to a coffee shop to get work done or window-shopping at the mall alone. My nervous, first-year self wouldn’t have been able to fathom this, but as I’ve grown up, being with myself has become my sanctuary. 

As I gear up to leave college behind and  start a full-time job, I am grateful that I have taken the time to get to know myself and relish my time alone. I am moving to a new city after graduation, and though that brings a new set of worries to my life, one thing I know for sure is that I am comfortable enough with myself to know that when I  am alone, I’m not lonely. The idea of being states away from my closest friends and family can feel daunting, but because I have taken the time to feel   comfortable in solitude, I don’t feel worried about exploring  a new city  by myself and facing challenges on my own. 

Even though being alone can feel uncomfortable, it can have its benefits. Photo courtesy of @Bhavisu Thar/Unsplash