It’s an early morning ride somewhere in Scottsdale, Arizona!

How to Be Okay Being Alone

Discover the Art of Self-Awareness According to a Leading Psychologist

Clifford Jones
3 min readJun 26, 2024

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It’s 4:40 a.m. on a Summer weekday in Scottsdale, Arizona. I’m ten minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour bicycle ride.

I’m alone, soft-pedaling into the sunrise, and feel like the world’s richest man. But the truth is, it’s taken me a lifetime to know who I am.

And in that way, I am okay when I am alone.

To be okay with being alone, we must learn to be okay with who we are.

To do that, we must somehow figure out who we are instead of who we’ve become to please others, including our family, culture, community, and employer.

In other words, we have to know our true, authentic selves.

“Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don’t find themselves at all.” — Rollo May

Knowing who you are makes it much easier to know who you’re not.

Man’s Search for Himself by Rollo May

Rollo May was a pioneering American existential psychologist known for his profound insights into the human condition, freedom, and anxiety. He was born on…

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Clifford Jones
Clifford Jones

Written by Clifford Jones

I write about the art of human transformation, consciousness, spiritual evolution, mental health, workplace stress, and other human things.

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