I actually like spending time alone - it doesn't bother me at all.

Being around lots of people drains me, and alone time is essential to my well-being.

My favorite thing is to be alone in a room with a blank paper in front of me and the time to fill it.

I tried acupuncture, the patch, and hypnosis, but found that I needed to do it alone - when the time was right for me.

Any time you can be with like-minded people, laughing or crying over the same joke or the same scene... For me, it's therapeutic. You just feel a little less alone on the planet.

Sparky Anderson taught me this a long time ago: 'There's three ways you can treat a person. You can pat 'em on the butt, you can kick 'em in the butt, or you can leave 'em alone.'

To me, the sea is like a person - like a child that I've known a long time. It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea, I talk to it. I never feel alone when I'm out there.

I don't want anybody guarding me. I want to be free; I want to be left alone... I would like to go out there and have no one know me, but at the same time, it would bother me, y'know.

When I first started writing, it was me alone with a computer in my apartment. I hated the time away from other people, and my writing sucked. Now I have a laptop; I can do the most tedious part of my job in a public place.

I was 24 when I was embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit. This was 2014, long before, en masse and on social media, we said #MeToo and #TimesUp. At the time, I felt completely alone. Visceral, hateful online harassment from strangers left me paranoid and anxious for years afterward.

I remember going out alone in a canoe. Somebody told me to lie in the bottom of the canoe and just drift. It was a small lake and I was perfectly safe. So I did that, and I drifted. It was quiet and peaceful. Suddenly, I heard a loon cry the first time I ever heard that marvelous sound.

People think I'm not polite. But, what I have to say to people seems so unnecessary. I can't be forced. I'd rather just be what I feel. Even when I sing I try to imagine I'm all alone, there's nobody out there listening. I play with the notes, with the feeling. Each time the song is different for me.

I've always had bad posture, and Pilates makes me feel taller and reminds me to keep my shoulders back. And hiking isn't just about doing cardio, it's also when I can get my 'me time' to be alone with my thoughts. After Pilates I should do some cardio, and after hiking, I need to do some resistance training.

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