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Hi, my name is Emily Simonian. I’m a licensed clinician at Thriveworks in Washington DC and the question that was asked was, “Is it good to have alone time during COVID-19?”

So I would say the short answer is yes, but to explain that a little further and in more detail, I think you want to look at exactly how much your schedule personally was disrupted. If you are a person that had a lot of alone time before and now you don’t, for example, you might be feeling like you’re missing that and that’s okay.

What’s equally important is having a home environment and support system that is emotionally validating. So if you need more alone time and you ask for that, hopefully you can communicate that to your family or your partner or your roommate or whoever it is in a way that you understand one another and understand that, you know, obviously we have all been disrupted, our routines and schedules have been disrupted and so I’m just advocating for your own needs and making sure that you are receiving that support. That’s huge.

In general, alone time is often how we are able to reflect. How sometimes a lot of us are able to relax and how we are able to just be with ourselves without having to be anything to anyone else—without being an employee or a boss, a father, a mother. Just getting to kind of focus on yourself and have, you know, quiet moments or moments to do whatever it is you like to do in, you know, solitude.

So there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you need. There’s nothing wrong with needing more connection if that’s what you need. It’s really kind of looking at, you know, homeostasis being disrupted right now and trying to normalize as much as possible. Um, with all of the changes that have occurred.

So long answer kind of summed up: I think that there is no real right or wrong in terms of personal needs. It’s, it’s very personal. Just make sure you are communicating those needs to those around you and taking good care of yourself. And there is nothing selfish about that. Especially if you are a parent and you say, well, I have other people to take care of, but you need to take care of you first so that you can be better for your family at large. I hope that some of this has been helpful for you. Thank you for watching and stay safe.