RSVP For One And Order Some Peace!

I sit at a table for one and realize how many different stories can lead someone to eat alone in a crowded room. in this episode we tease apart alone versus lonely and make a case for stillness as a real form of self-connection and healing. 

LLSS Lifts:
• choosing solitude on purpose after “lifing” all day 
• noticing other solo diners and imagining the unseen stories behind their faces 
• separating being alone from feeling lonely 
• why the difference comes down to choice and connection 
• making space to process, breathe, and hear our own thoughts 
• reframing stillness as presence rather than emptiness 

Get yourself some dinner alone this week.   Reach out to me on Linked in and Instagram.  Share with someone who made need some support today!

Transcript

Welcome To A Quiet Story

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hey there storytellers. Welcome back to Long Life Short Stories where we dive into the moments that make life well life. I'm your host, Darcell Diller

Choosing A Table For One

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Sweet. So I'm sitting in a restaurant the other day by myself, a table for one, all by myself. And listen, this was not a sad situation. For me, this was very intentional. I do this a lot. I find a quiet spot, I sit down, I breathe, and I order a delicious meal or a smoothie or a drink. I just sit there and enjoy being by myself. Sometimes I do this after tennis, sometimes after shopping, sometimes after what I call just lifing. And you all know when lifing is. That's when you've done everything for everybody as an adult, and you just need 30 minutes to exist without your name being called for a few minutes. You know what that feels like. So back to my sitting

Reading The Room Of Solo Diners

SPEAKER_00 1:12

here alone. I'm sitting there and I look around, and I could not believe it. Eight other solo diners, just me and seven strangers eating alone in a room full of people. Two of them were men, the other six were women. And something just hit me. We all have a story about how we got to these tables. Now here's where it gets interesting for me. Because alone and lonely, those are not the same thing. And I think we all confuse them all the time. I looked over at a woman wearing a red baseball cap. She was scrolling through her phone all over social media from what I can see. And I don't know, maybe it was the way her shoulders were sitting, maybe it was the look on her face. But she looked sad. Like she was alone because life had gotten very quiet on her. Not by choice, maybe. That silence that comes in when life for so many reasons may have gone in a different direction for us. Then there was the man in the gray suit, eating fast, glancing at his watch every three minutes. That man was not lonely. That man had somewhere to go, somewhere to be, and 30 minutes probably or less to fuel up before he got there. He was alone and absolutely fine with it. He certainly wasn't looking lonely. And the other women, expressions all over the place. Screens lit up, forks moving. I kind of found myself writing their stories in my head. She's about to go pick up her kids. She just finished a double shift. She's a nurse. She might be a doctor. She might be a business owner. She might be someone's sister, waiting to be picked up. Oh, and this one, she's visiting her mother later and needed just five minutes first to herself. And this one, oh, she left a house full of people to sit in this quiet space for just a little while. All of us, though, in that same room with the same solitude, completely for different reasons and different stories. Now that's the thing about alone. It isn't always lonely. And lonely isn't always being alone.

Alone Versus Lonely

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So what's the difference? I think it comes down to a choice, a connection, and what you're carrying when you sit down. Because here's what I know, folks. We all need this time. Time to connect with ourselves. And that means many times being alone with that, with what makes us ourselves. And that means many times being alone with our own thoughts. And that's what makes us us. Sitting with our thoughts long enough to actually hear them, to sort through the mental maze of working our stuff out? Oh, we cannot do that in constant motion every day. We just can't. You cannot heal. You cannot even process. You can't even just breathe while you are perpetually in motion for everybody else.

Stillness As Self Connection

SPEAKER_00 4:25

So why not take a time out to dine alone today? To fill your feelings with not only a good meal, but with the kind of reflection that comes when you finally get it right, being still. And that stillness is not emptiness, folks. That stillness is connection with yourself, with your thoughts, with your spirit, with your prayers, with whatever you walked in carrying, with whatever you felt you needed to leave behind, just in that moment of solitude. That table for one, that might be the most important seat in the house. So don't be afraid to RSVP1 for yourself.

The Table For One Challenge

SPEAKER_00 5:04

And that's a wrap on today's story. This has been Long Life Short Stories. Until next time, my friends, keep living your story, even the quiet chapters, especially the quiet chapters. Get yourself some dinner alone this week. I'm Darcy Hotilla Sweet, and remember, your story is worth telling. Ciao.