We need to be around other people, but other people can also be a big problem. We need a balance between being around other people and being alone. This isn’t greatly appreciated.

Most of us don’t like alone time. And that’s part of why we sometimes have problems with each other. In other words, the fear of being alone (which is often unconscious), can hurt our relationships:

• It can cause us to try to make others think and act like us. So we don’t feel alone, strange, or inadequate.
• It can cause us to lie or exaggerate, to make ourselves feel better in comparison to others.
• It can cause us to demand attention by saying or doing outrageous things.
• It can cause us to expect others to do things and go places they aren’t interested in. And then get offended when they don’t want to.

As Blaise Pascal said, “all of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”