There is a quiet prejudice that a person who likes to be alone is either strange, or sad, or that something is wrong with them. Yet psychologists say almost the opposite: those who truly enjoy their solitude are often precisely the people who know themselves best.

The key lies in a distinction that is easily overlooked. „There is an essential difference between chosen and imposed solitude,“ explains psychologist Raquel Córdoba. Chosen solitude is voluntary, restorative, linked to personal growth. Imposed loneliness is something else - a forced isolation that leads to anxiety and depression. It's not the same feeling to sit alone because you want to, and to sit alone because you have no other choice.

And why is it precisely the more intelligent people who more often seek silence? „People with a very intense inner life usually need to balance that daily stimulation with moments of peace, quiet and less social noise,“ says Córdoba. In other words, the more that happens in the head, the greater the need to sometimes switch off the noise from outside.

But there is a sharper point in all of this. „If I don't know who I am, what I need, what I want or what my values are, it's understandable that spending time alone with myself will be an unpleasant experience,“ says the psychologist. Many flee from solitude not because the silence bothers them, but because they're afraid of what they would hear in it.

If you want to get used to your own company, the advice is simple: start gradually, with twenty to thirty minutes. Do something that gives you pleasure - reading, walking, drawing. Reduce the screen and the constant connectivity. And observe yourself without judgement. In the end, the person who knows how to be alone with themselves is a person who is never truly alone - because they are good company for themselves too.