I have experienced both loneliness and solitude. Loneliness is hell. Pure and simple. The absolute worst time of my life, and the source of the greatest misery I have experienced, is when I was truly lonely. Solitude is...golden. It's a quiet time, to spend recharging. Peaceful, a time to just...be. The difference, I think, is choice. People choose solitude. Very very rarely to people actually choose to feel lonely.
That having been said, I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to truly belong to a group. Because of my past, my inner nature, and my lifestyle preferences, I have never truly felt a part of any group of people--and I probably never will. Does that make me lonely? Sometimes. Unhappy? Very rarely, if ever.
Sometimes though, I wonder if I'm somehow missing something. Possibly like the person blind from birth thinking about colours, I notice people who seem to truly be a part of a group, who look like they truly belong. And I wonder. Are they deluding themselves? And if not, is this something I should be sad for never having experienced--for literally being unable to experience?
I am neither beast nor god, but I do cherish my solitude.
