Solitude is seen or described as the state of being alone; alone with your self, your thoughts and your ideas. Solitude is a valued time where you’re at peace and get to do whatever you want without being disturbed by people or your phone or any other thing that causes distractions on a normal day; you can choose to work, meditate, think, rest, plan and do so many things in your time of solitude and research has shown that the most outstanding works and results have been birthed from a place of solitude.

As a musician, you need to take some time off to attend to your own self; you need to shut out the entire world and be alone with yourself. It should be as often as you find the time to do that. Normally, musicians are very busy people in nature – gigs, rehearsals, tutorials and all sorts take up all the time we have in our lives, but no matter how busy you get, find time for solitude. It could be taking a walk in the park or down the street, in a garden, going to a resort, you can even travel away from home or work for a few days or weeks if that’s what you want.

The topic of solitude as a musician is one that is not hammered on often enough, it cannot be overemphasized either. Solitude helps us in numerous ways and many great musicians and artistes have written best-seller songs and albums in solitude

Solitude reduces depression Sadly, there are so many musicians who have committed suicide because of their inability to tactfully battle depression. Musicians like Chester Bennington, Herman Brood, Chris Cornell and Dave Lepard are just a few on this unfortunate list. One major cause of depression amongst musicians today is high expectations from fans, family, managers, producers and basically everyone around. It’s like you give and give and get nothing for yourself and what you give is still not enough. It can be sincerely frustrating. Solitude gives you some time out for yourself, it makes you put your own personal needs first before the needs of others and when you have tended to those needs and taken care of yourself properly, you would be mentally and physically fit to tend to the needs and expectations of others.

Solitude keeps you away from distractions – As humans, our lives are filled with crazy daily activities, being a musician even makes it worse. I know it might be difficult to spend a few hours or even days outside your phone without seeing it constantly buzzing and blowing up with calls and notifications or without the interference of other humans or work-related stuff but it’s worth the try. When you want to start a new project or make new music especially, it’s advisable to be alone and shut out distractions so that your inspiration process can be undisturbed and uninterrupted and then ideas can flow smoothly.  

Solitude helps you analyze better – It makes you give definition to yourself as a person, you get to analyze everything about your life – your goals, your strengths and weaknesses, your progress, shortcomings, challenges etc. Solitude makes you evaluate your overall character and attitude towards life, tackle problems, proffer solutions to those problems, and deal with your inner demons. In solitude, you hide from the world to come out better – you retreat to advance!

Solitude births and conceives new ideas and inventions – It’s undeniable that in a place of absolute serenity and noiselessness, ideas and innovations are invented. Quietness gives the human brain a sort of stimulant and makes it work more swiftly and more active than it would when you’re in a noisy place.

Solitude improves your mental well-being – After experiencing some time of solitude for yourself, there’s this freshness that comes with the experience, it shapes and sharpens your mind in such a way that you now become more “idea-filled” with an enhanced ability to think outside the box.

Solitude activates your inner peace – After a while of solitude, you’ll definitely get back to the hustle and bustle of your everyday life, but going through it will not be the same; you’ll now go through life unperturbed about challenges because you’ve tackled and sorted them out in your moments of quietness. Even when issues arise or stress sets in, you can still remain calm amidst the raging storm. When you no longer feel the peace, it’s a call for you to retreat into another moment of solitude.

There is no doubt that one of the best places to find solitude is in nature; it clears your mind, improves your mood, reduces stress and increases creativity by a whooping 50% (according to a research done by the University of  Kansas).

While in solitude, it’s important for your mental and physical organs to be at rest (to some extent at least). Of course you can work, task yourself and do other stuff, but let the hard work be reduced to a minimum, after your alone time, everything can resume fully. It’s your personal time, time for yourself not anyone or anything else. Have as much fun as you can while at it.

In summary, solitude prevents you from going crazy as a musician!

IN SOLITUDE, IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT, NOT ABOUT WHAT ANYBODY ELSE WANTS.

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