How To Be Alone

megan ass boyle, sweet

Golden

i like this.

Read article about being alone. Relate too well. Wonder if that's good or bad. Think that you have to comment. Think of how to comment. Start typing comment, correct errors. Sigh. Go to top of page. Read again. Go back to work.

God, this was so good.

sweet

subtitle: An Esoteric Collection of Details and Impulses.

i love this post

story of my life. im not sure if thats a good thing or a bad one.

i like it a lot, Megan

Megan, you can house sit for me.

wait ppl remember the first deodorant they ever wore? mine was probably Speed Stick, but i will tell ppl it was Arrid Extra Dry because it sounds more underground/depressing.

Really good.

great pacing and ending

bravo

this article made me feel less bad.

You make being alone sound fun

:)

Feel like I have the opposite experience. Can't get away from people needing shit from me all the time. Feel like being alone and indulging in these kinds of thoughts would be a major luxury.

This is my life.

“Read until your muscles are cramped and it’s hard to be comfortable. ” This is why I switched to Kindle, so much lighter.

yeah… yeah… yeah. yeah. this is accurate. yeah

i go to bed early and get up late so there is less time spent conscious

being lonely seems so willful

Kindle: as light as a croissant.

this article reminds me of this poem / video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

I dig carbs, good choice of reference.

I just don't want to be alone anymore. This was nice though.

“Feel like you need to pay people for interacting with you.” Get out of my head!

Started bawling by the second paragraph.

lol, nice megan

seems there's a correlation between 'being alone' and injured fingers/hands

interesting…

Try living in Afghanistan, cry baby

Who gets IDed for Ear plugs?

susie ass anderson

sweet, becky lang

hi kyoudai, happy you could relate/thanks for commenting

sweet :)

sweet

me too nive/think it's okay

sweet stephen :) :)

house sitting sounds fun. if you live within ~6 hours of baltimore i would be down to house sit your house, michael

mine was “teen speed stick” or something like that. sounds druggy…heh…

sweet adam, glad you think so

nice

really? nice, happy you thought so brian

think i've also experienced that, aaron

Megan, this was really lovely.

hi david, i didn't know you were “effervescence”…hehe…

heh heh

i've tried that method also, federico

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-A…

;)

hi julian tully

:)

hehe

i've noticed that, timothy…

interesting suggestion, bibbles. do you live in afghanistan?

i get IDed regularly for some reason.

first draft acknowledged unusual circumstance of getting IDed after making it past security in an airport, but then i thought that would be like, “show-y” or something. also the sentence seemed clunky/cumbersome and “slowed my flow.” i've been IDed at airport newsstands.

fucking kyiller

yes

yes

yes

mother fucker

Cool story, bro. Solitude is very difficult to contend with at certain parts in our lives.

Wicked article. Deep and interesting.

teen speed stick was probably only on the market for a short time before an intern at the company made a 'premature ejaculation' joke abt the product and the board got worried about their 'image'.

seems highly idealized

hi megan boyle. how are you?

My first was Teen Spirit. Thanks, Kurt/Nirvana for having it forever be associated with something cool.

This is really accurate we should be best friends irl. You're my favorite writer on thought catalog.

Just lovely.

When I was 18 and feeling lonely I used to drive to Baltimore from Annapolis. So yes, I feel you.

Pretty wonderful. With the inclusion of some stuff about moving across the country for grad school (to a place where you know exactly zero people) and the anxiety and solitude that comes along with that, this could be my life.

I loved this. To add to the list: make elaborate meals that you take pictures of. Eat in front of a television on mute. Speak to your cats and feel suddenly alarmed, realize it's the first time you've heard your voice all day. Look up quotes about sadness and loneliness on google. Put on red lipstick while listening to Billie Holiday, stare at yourself in the mirror while smoking a cigarette. Text someone you shouldn't and then turn your phone off so you can't be made immediately aware that you won't receive a response….could go on and on.

Thank you, Megan. This was inspiring.

technology boyle

ARCHAEA= NOT BACTERIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A…
other than that good article.

thanks, I think I'll pick this up

me too, 'wtf u guys!!' !

Megan, how did you know my life story?

loved this. love meggy boyles

I like this better than the youtube video referencing the same subject.

BTW, my comment is not a criticism, just a quick reader response. This piece is insightful and, obviously, I'm a big fan of your writing which is why I read it all and comment on it. Can't wait for the book in October.

“Drive to see if “20 miles in one direction” is the same 20 miles back.”

Certainly provided a laugh.

I didn't like this. But I don't think Megan Boyle is a bad person. I just didn't like this.

“Feel like you need to pay people for interacting with you. “
yeah

“Look at the phone as if it has a delicious meal it’s not sharing.” Wonderful. You taught the proverbial dog a new trick.

I wish I could remember the first deodorant I ever used.

Come back for another 3 days in Florida!!

the best lines of this are “have sex right away or don't have it at all,” “think of fixing your bike. think of baking something” and the part about eating watermelon in the car, although i'm not sure why.

So easy to follow and connect with each moment as you describe your awareness of, or view of , what seems to be so from instant to instant. I respect your ability to express your Self and your self from here and there traversing a path that seems familiar and friendly to me….nice to feel connected. Thanks for sharing and allowing those of us with ears to hear. Mike B.

I started thinking about the being alone experience and remembered some   old philosophical idea that” I is often obsering Me!  Like if there are two point of reference inside this inner dialogue which one is “me” and who is alone??    Are both of us alone?  or is the eternal internal dialogue ongoing and just boring.   I remember some Think Tank folks who focused on how many thoughts do people think per day.   The one in Virginia said about 50.000, and the one in Michigan said about 60,000.   They both speculated that we have mental habits just like physical habits (like brushing teeth) and we tend to think the basically same, or same category of thoughts every 24 hours, more or less.     So, is the me alone or the I alone, or both alone.    I have heard that one sign of mental health is being able to be alone with someone!!    Such really unresolved issues of being alone can raise a lot of disussion and sharing, that basically leads me to feel not alone.    So,  thank you guys for your comments…..I feel connected in some way and ready to have another sip of my favorite beer….sort of with you.  Thanks Megan for your desscription of an experiential zone…ie, being alone…..this is fun for me.   Mike B.

absolutely genius. my hands are so scabby it’s hard to type. my nightstand lightbulb is blue this month.

Awesome. Baltimore’s intense…I just moved to the city in April and everyone seems depressed and/or homicidal. Or high. And alone!

archaea are not a class of bacteria. wtf?

i know. should’ve said thermophiles or halophiles or something1?!

I did all of these things. I’m alone. I guess it worked.

Take personality tests, expecting if not answers then at least a diagnosis. –> #whatismylife ho hum…

Oh god, I can relate

being alone in baltimore is too easy. +spooning your cat till she runs away, buying a pastry and throwing it away immediately, writing emails and saving them all to your drafts, yelling at your cat and crying when she doesn’t listen, not thinking about anything more than 12 hours in the future, etc.