The Benefits of Sitting in Solitude | Your Mindset Matters

For years I had the belief that being productive was being busy, which would ultimately lead to success. I believed that the more I got done the more accomplished I’d be; I’d be more successful. Those beliefs and how I defined them held me back from my life goals and contributed to destroying my health over the years. Today, as I’m coaching others, I hear very similar beliefs and more that I’ll talk about in this article. Over the years, I’ve learned many benefits of sitting in solitude and I’d like to share them with you, along with some tips for your times of solitude.

For years I bought into the belief that if I couldn’t go the bathroom by myself, how could I find moments of solitude to help me? What good would sitting in silence do when there is a long list of things left to do?

BUT I knew deep down that if I didn’t find some quiet time, I’d lose my mind. I was desperate to try anything.

Slowly magic started to happen. I was feeling more rested, I was more mindful around my relationships, and my true passions started showing themselves and I had found the true me. Practicing moments of solitude has many benefits and I’m going to discuss each one in a moment, but I also want you to know that when I started this years ago, I started small. It wasn’t a huge shift in my daily routine, it was small changes that made a huge impact on my life.

Why am I telling you this? Because you too, no matter how busy life seems, can find quiet moments to help you make big impacts on your life.

But first, there are 7 benefits of sitting in solitude.

Benefits of Sitting in Solitude

1. Solitude is deep rest for your senses

When you can shut out the noise from the outside world your mind can rest. In moments of solitude, the mind isn’t being overstimulated with radio, television, books, conversations, and movement. Even if we are getting enough sleep we can still feel tired and run down when we are stuck in this busy cycle. Taking these moments of solitude rests the brain enough from outside stimulations and can bring some calmness to your well-being.

2. Solitude ignites creativity

As you learn to get comfortable with sitting in solitude, your brain will clear the clutter of everyday things. It is similar to waking up from a dream with a new idea for that one problem you’ve been struggling with. When the endless chatter and outside noise are lifted your subconscious has the freedom to explore and create.

3. Productivity is increased with moments of solitude

Trying to focus on an activity to completion is difficult when we are multi-tasking or when there is a consistent disruption to our natural thought patterns. There is a belief that multitasking is a superpower and we can get more done by working this way. This is false. Multitasking trains the brain how not to focus on anything completely, driving productivity down, and ultimately having negative effects on your career, relationships, and health. Studies have proven that if you can find moments of solitude to work on a task, your productivity increases significantly.

4. You will get to know yourself

Often when we are constantly choosing to be busy or be surrounded by activities we’ve created a habit of avoidance. When we practice solitude we start to hear our personal thoughts about ourselves. For my clients that are starting to rediscover themselves, they realize during these moments that they are mean to themselves. Then practicing solitude becomes scary, because they don’t like how they feel when they realize how mean they are being. With guidance, I help them realize that their thoughts and self-judgments are based upon old beliefs that can be shifted. As they work through these, they start to get to know the person they are meant to be. This is part of the magic of working with a mindset coach.

5. Life Goals are easier to visualize

As you get to know yourself, how you visualize your life goals will become easier. Life goals are more than just your career, health, or wealth. Life Goals encompass all of your pillars of life: relationships, career, health, wealth, personal development, and spirituality. When you know who you are and how you want to define what success means to you, then you can start feeling what it is like to have achievable life goals.

6. Relationships improve when you practice solitude

This seems like an oxymoron and you may be wondering why I’m telling you to practice solitude to help improve your relationships with others. Studies have shown that as we get to know who we are, we also realize what we need in our relationships. We seek to have more positive, supportive relationships so the quality of our life and our relationships flourish. When we are practicing mindfulness in solitude, we are able to be more mindful when we are around others. The empathy we can show towards others will increase and we are able to build stronger connections with those we love.

7. Practicing solitude models good habits for others

People naturally watch the habits of those they admire or learn from. They model those behaviors and will practice them as well. Kids are a great example of this. When we are constantly busy we are teaching kids they need to be moving always. We are teaching them that slowing down is boredom. What if we were able to teach them that intentionally practicing solitude is healthy, creative and improves their quality of life immensely? How would that change the family dynamic?

Tips for Your times of solitude:

Now that you know the benefits of sitting in solitude, how do you make it happen when life feels out of control and chaos is a natural daily event? I’ve got your back! Here are some tips that have helped me over the years.

1. Don’t overthink it – the duration, frequency, and location don’t matter just do it when it feels good or when you have a window of opportunity. If that doesn’t work schedule it in and make it happen. Just do it.

2. No outside distractions – reading or listening to a book is a conversation with the author, listening to music is dancing or singing with that musician, podcasts, and video content are also similar to these. Instead, I recommend just sitting in silence, or if you need to move then walk in silence. It could be a walk around the neighborhood, it could be driving home from work without the radio on, it could be sitting in your room before bed or early morning before the kids wake up.

3. Using this time for mindfulness – mindfulness is self-reflection without self-judgment. Often when we are sitting in solitude we are able to clear the mind of clutter – this is when you can get to know more about what ignites fire and passion in your life, what dreams you have for yourself, what thoughts might be holding you back, and even how to solve that challenging issue you’ve been struggling with for some time. During these times you can journal these thoughts and let the stream of consciousness take over. Be kind to yourself and read them without judgment, get curious about them, and start shifting the ones that don’t fit for your life goals, releasing the old beliefs and making room for the new beliefs.

When you look at the benefits of sitting in solitude there is no question we all need this in our lives. What if we all started practicing it just in small moments daily? How would lives change? How would our careers change? What impact could we have on the world around us? Would we all be happier because we would be choosing to see happiness and joy? These are all questions I ponder when I do my own sitting in solitude.