Flying Solo

I'm a very social person. I like being around people. I don't need to be in a large group of people to feel comfortable but I enjoy spending time with friends and acquaintances as much as possible. I don't necessarily like to spend time alone, especially not in my tiny apartment.

This year, I feel like I am embracing spending time alone. I know what my interests and hobbies are. And although I have many friends who share those interest/hobbies, I don't necessarily have anyone who is game to do anything at any given time. Except for my husband. He is open-minded and willing to do anything and go anywhere... most of the time.

This week-end, there was a huge UFC event taking place on Saturday, one that I desperately wanted to see. Gaston is my go-to UFC buddy. This is something that we both enjoy doing together. However, on Saturday, my husband went to the event in Montreal while I stayed in Ottawa, since I had a volunteer engagement to take care of. Safe to say, I wasn't sure quite what to do... None of my friends like UFC but I really wanted to see the event. So I decided that I wouldn't let the fact that I was flying solo stop me from checking out the fights. So I took a bus, headed downtown, and managed to get in a crowded bar and watch UFC at the bar with a group of rowdy boys. The fights were good, and definitely worth seeing. I even made a friend at the bar, one who didn't know much about UFC so I was able to teach him a few things.

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Back in September, there was a movie playing at the Bytowne that I really wanted to see. Normally, movies only play at the Bytowne for a limited number of days. For this particular movie, there was only one day that I could have possible seen it. Unfortunately, none of my friends were available to watch it. I really didn't want to miss my chance to see this movie, so I went anyways. I sat by myself, laughed by myself, upstairs in the balcony. I really enjoyed the movie, and I also enjoyed the experience of watching a movie by myself.

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This summer, during Bluesfest, I managed to see a lot of shows and spend time with a lot of friends. However, there were many instances where some of my friends wanted to stay at the Electro stage while I wanted to check out some bands at the other stages. During some instances, I was actually required to write about specific bands for my favourite Montreal blog, Sors-tu. Although I prefer going to shows with friends, I have come to enjoy watching shows by myself... I get to choose how close/far I get to watch and I can just immerse myself in the music without worrying about making small talk or ignoring my friend(s).

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So more and more, I do stuff by myself... even if it's just little things, like going to a yoga class by myself. A year ago, it's something that I would have never done. Slowly I'm beginning to see that spending time solo can be an empowering thing.