Living by yourself in the bush: Introvert Heaven?

*Warning: Spoiler alert

Into the Wild is a movie that was made in 2007. It is a true story about Christopher McCandless. A young American man who turned his back on modern society to live off the land in the Alaskan bush.

McCandless was unprepared for life in Alaska, that five months after been dropped off he was found dead in an abandoned bus that he had made his home.

After about four months of solitude, McCandless was starving and attempted to make his way back to civilisation. Unfortunately, the river he had crossed early in the year had become uncrossable and McCandless basically starved to death.

McCandless looked for happiness in solitude. He looked for happiness in the idea that if you can't be happy with your own company who can you be happy with but in the end he realised that to be happy you need to share it with others. You need to share it with family, friends and loved ones.

In this blog post I talked about the Tom Hanks character in the movie Cast Away and he he almost drove himself crazy trying to get off the island that was effectively his prison. We are social beings at the end of the day and even though solitude is good for us on occasions we do need the company of other people to experience life with.

McCandless realised this after a few months but by that time it was too late and he was trapped by nature in the guise of a river and he had to succumb to the power of the wild.

By all means spend Saturday night at home doing whatever you want to do. Go for a walk around the park by yourself to clear you head. Spend some time alone in a cafe reading a novel or planning your week or your next move. However, realise that you can't do it all by yourself. You need friends, you need family. You need (even if you can't stand them) the attention of your colleagues.

This is what makes us human beings and thousands of years of evolution can't be wrong. Get out. Get out and about and meet people. Talk to them, Find out what makes them click. Retreat when you need to but don't hide yourself completely in your "bus." Not so good things might happen and that isn't good for your friends, for your family and most importantly, YOU!