Building. Rebuilding.

This was the 3rd journal entry in my Literature 3 (Literature, the Individual, and Society) class. We were discussing solitude and our professor asked us to include the following lines from Khalil Gibran's Mirrors of the Soul in our journal and write a reflection from it. This was mine:
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Flying over San Francisco, California, July 3, 2016

"Your inner soul, my friend, is surrounded with solitude and seclusion.
Were it not for this solitude and this seclusion you would not be you and
I would not be I. If it were not for that solitude and seclusion, I would, if
I heard your voice, think myself to be speaking; yet, if I saw your face, i
would imagine that I were looking into a mirror."
- Khalil Gibran, Mirrors of the Soul

Khalil Gibran speaks of solitude as a friend and I believe this is the only proper approach to solitude. As something that seeks to help us rebuild ourselves, solitude is a friend that only wishes the best for us.

I can testify to this. When I was in a relationship, we spent as much time together as we could. Every time we went out, we always enclosed ourselves in seclusion. We were better alone together. When he left me, I found it difficult to put myself back together. It was my first break-up (meaning: one that I did not initiate) and I did not expect that it would hurt that much.

The journey to self-recovery started with earphones. After spending a whole year sharing one pair of earphones in the jeepney while his music played, there was a kind of healing felt in being able to listen to music in the jeep alone, to be able to place both earbuds in my ear and feel the weight of all that had transpired. This propelled me to learn to spend time with myself and to get to know this version of myself after the break-up. A stronger, better, and much kinder me.

I think that is what solitude does. When once I only learned to build homes in other people with scraps for foundation, I have now realized that my strongest foundation is within me. I learned to build my home in my hands, my heart, my brain.

I am my own home.

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