Lonerism

Last week I went to two cabaret shows by myself. When a friend asked me why, I responded with "I'd rather go to something by myself than miss out on it altogether"

As I have said multiple times before, we live in a world where FOMO prevents us from committing to plans- be it a birthday party, date, or show (read my post R.E.S.P.E.C.T the RSVP).

 I have found that I have missed things because my potential date hasn't committed to coming or booking tickets, and I have let the fear of going to something alone stop me from doing what I want.

"They call us lonely when we're really just alone" (Aztec Camera from the song "Oblivious").

That sums it up, there is the difference between being lonely and alone. I can be alone and connecting with the show I'm watching, book I'm reading or sights I'm seeing. Or, I can be with other people and still feel lonely, feel disconnected.

Sometimes being by yourself gives you the freedom to have interactions with other people you wouldn't normally speak to....

Sometimes being by yourself allows you to say and do things you wouldn't do if you were in the company of someone you know. (Like wear your bike helmet on the train and eat your salad with your hands.... That's a random example I just made that up, it's definitely something I have never done every Tuesday) 

This picture has nothing to do with the topic of this blog post. Unless you are reading this alone, then I guess it is the right whimsical combination of wit and heart that just makes you want to share it with your friends and follow me on Twitter, a place where you are never alone.

Is Lonerism as popular as activism, feminism and X-Ray vision? 

You tell me. 

I don't have anyone to ask, plus I'm busy not missing out on things alone. 

Jj 

OUCH!

OUCH!

What is this

I don't really know

man it hurts

and I'm starting to go

I think I'm going to die

the blood is like sap

and as I suddenly realize

I'm stuck in your trap

I think I'm gone now

I'm no longer here

to you I'm a memory

a thing in the air

and according to you

the air isn't there.

Well, actually, it's a poem I wrote when I was 13, BEFORE FACEBOOK.

I don't recall it being about an ex as I was boyfriend-less from age 11-18, and my main teenage dramatic angst reference points were musical theatre, Alanis Morisette and Avril Lavigne. 

Still, I stand by it. 

The poem, I mean, so am sharing it with you. 

Jj

Now is the winter of our discontent

I feel it in my fingers..... I feel it in my toes.

Winter is here. The scent of mulled wine drifts through your snot-laced nostrils and you haven't seen your upper thighs for weeks. Salad is out, soup* is in.

*When I say soup I mean sticky date pudding.

I have written a few posts about the seasons and the winter because has such a great effect on our daily environment and activities; just take a look at any day in the U.K. over 23 degrees where everyone is compelled to lay shirtless in parks and get out the kaftans they bought on a girls weekend in Lanzarote (Lanza-grotty.)

After enduring two northern hemisphere winters, one in Denmark where I was able to move around the academy where I was living via tunnel and never have to go outside, I realised the value of vitamin D-eterminaton to survive the winter. 

Whilst I love building a hibernation nest out of blankets, movies, salty snacks and cats and waiting for the leaves to turn green again, this winter, I'm determined to make the most of it and make the gray days great.  

That's right. Layering up with colourful knits and scarves and socks over mittens over tights hand knitted into a mermaid tail, or something like that. 

Going to movies, galleries, plays, night markets, night meerkats, and every pub within a 2km radius. 

Hot yoga, hot dogs, hot flannels, or combine them all by doing hot down dogs wearing flannel. 

What ever it takes so that you aren't shaking from shivering but shaking from embracing and laughing with your friends, your lover or the friendly person in the plane isle next to you who loaned you a pen and because the flight only has 80 people you are all friends. Oh whoops that was just me. I think you get it. 

Don't hold back, lean into it. Get excited about the fact that it's dark and cold but you are going to layer up like a wedding cake and go walking when everyone else is inside. There's no harm in a chicken parmigiana (unless it's not free range chicken then we have an ethical dispute which is grossly off topic.) But I can't wait to go crazy for curries and stews and spices, the ones that make your nose and eyes water and put hairs on your chest, which is needed this time of year. 

We may be in the winter of our discontent but I'm hot with enthusiasm and want to spread the heat. 

Join me! 

Jj