Thoughts on isolation.
Isolation, quarantine, segregation, reclusion, exile, detachment, concealment, privacy, solitude.
We have a lot of words in English to say more or less exactly the same thing. But then again that’s not really true, is it? All of the above were easily found on an online thesaurus search under ‘isolation’ (a word we have quickly grown tired of hearing in recent days) but you could hardly say that ‘quarantine’ carries exactly the same meaning as ‘privacy’. The same is true of ‘isolation’ and ‘solitude’. This is of course naturally evident to anyone familiar with the English language, but consider these definitions to further the point.
Isolation is “the condition of being alone, especially when this makes you feel unhappy” - Cambridge Dictionary Online
Solitude is “the situation of being alone, often by choice” - American Dictionary
You see it’s not the situation, or condition, that really separates these two concepts. That is simply one of being alone. Without other people. It’s the fundamental idea which unites all the words at the start of this post. The differences are found more subtly in the implied response to, or motivation behind, that condition.
This leads me to the point I’m trying to make. The point behind what will possibly be weeks, or perhaps even months of subsequent updates about our life here. We have been forced into isolation. Forced by the threat of a terrible disease which has shaken the whole world in a matter of weeks. Forced by the fear of becoming infected ourselves, or worse still of passing on this infection to those we hold nearest and dearest. The decision to isolate ourselves, while still voluntary in England at the moment, has in reality been taken out of our hands. It’s for the greater good, or something. Regardless, this isn’t a decision we must simply resign ourselves to. We don’t need to feel isolated; alone and unhappy. It struck us that these events, these worldwide events, have afforded us the opportunity to find something precious among all the chaos and uncertainty. Solitude.
We may not have chosen these circumstances, but we can absolutely choose our response to them. We can choose to enjoy the privacy, the concealment, the much needed detachment from what is all to often a frantic and fast paced world. We hope that within these unique circumstances we can see our lives from a different perspective, that we can slow down, pursue activities and interests for which we’ve long been waiting for the right time. Pursuits that in any other scenario might just seems frivolous, a waste of time, or at the very least just not the most useful way we could be spending our time. But perhaps that’s been the problem all along, perhaps there’s something we’ve been overlooking that would have remained undiscovered if it weren’t for this radical and unexpected change to our daily routines. Or perhaps these are simply things that will keep us from losing our minds on what could be a long and emotionally draining exile. Either way we’re going to share what we can and we hope you’ll enjoy watching, or even be inspired to try something new for yourself. Maybe among this isolation we can all find some solitude.