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I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face

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I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face

Letters of Solitude

Shaun Usher
May 27, 2021
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I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face

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Today’s newsletter is dedicated to those among us who are filling with dread as lockdown slowly lifts, armpits already damp at the thought of a fidgety mass of humans getting their mingle on after months of forced isolation. It’s an epistolary fist-bump to all the loners

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, introverts, and reclusive souls who would much rather relax in their own company than mentally exhaust themselves in an effort to enjoy the company of others. You are not alone
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.

(See also: The art of saying no.)


After being so social... I don’t feel like myself at all. I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face, which I suppose comes from wearing a horrible fixed grin for so long.

Elizabeth Bishop to Carley Dawson, 10 Nov 1948 | One Art: Letters


Tomorrow I shall go back to London, and there already awaits me a string of inevitable experiences—what is called “seeing people.” You don’t know what that means—it means one can’t get out of it.

Virginia Woolf to Gerald Brenan, 4 Oct 1929 | The Complete Collection


I am one of these strange fuckers who finds great pleasure in being alone.

Charles Bukowski to Gerald Locklin, 8 Aug 1981 | Reach for the Sun: Vol.3


Being under my own roof, and my personality not invaded by others makes a lot of difference in my outlook on life and everything. Oh, to be once more alone in a house!

Zora Neale Hurston to Jean Waterbury, 6 Mar 1951 | A Life in Letters


I by no means need or want daily contact; perhaps it takes as much out of me as it gives, perhaps takes more. And when writing then I have nearly nothing to give.

Martha Gellhorn to Betsy Drake, 8 May 1974 | Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn


I go scarcely anywhere. Everything seems tiresome.

Fyodor Dostoevsky to Maria Issayev, 4 Jun 1855 | The Complete Works


I have reverted to solitude. I live in a house too large for me, with three cats; and when the telephone rings and it is a wrong number I feel a rush of thankfulness.

Sylvia Townsend Warner to David Garnett, 2 Sep 1970 | Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner


I don’t like being surrounded by bastards, and am not in fact surrounded by them... I do like being alone a lot just now, and taking care of myself.

Kurt Vonnegut to Jane Vonnegut, 7 Mar 1971 | Kurt Vonnegut: Letters


My real problem is a more personal one—the need of being alone. I am not anti-social; I have a deep affection for my friends and family, feel deeply for suffering humanity (also for suffering animals!) but at times I have a desperate need to be absolutely alone.

Edward Weston to Ansel Adams, 3 Dec 1934 | Ansel Adams: Letters


Solitude is Heaven.

May Sarton to Bryher, 31 Jul 1942 | May Sarton: Selected Letters


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1

I don’t mean this disparagingly. Absolutely nothing wrong with being a loner.

2

This is actually quite funny but to be perfectly honest it was an accident and I need to come clean.

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I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face

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2 Comments
Elizabeth Marro
Writes Spark
May 27, 2021Liked by Shaun Usher

Yes. Yes. Yes.

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Eyebee
Jun 4, 2021

I am quite happy with my own company, but I'm not a loner. I'm kind of halfway perhaps. I haven't been bothered about not socialising during the lockdown. Now it appears to be drawing to a close, I am looking forward to going out to eat and drink and to be able to sit inside to do so - April in the UK wasn't mostly conducive to outdoor drinking and dining. I'm not one for crowds though, and I don't really miss anyone in particular.

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