Refinery 29 UK
Why Women Should Always Cherish The Chance To Be Alone
The thought of being alone will send some hearts racing with delight and some with despair. For introverts, being alone can be a crucial sanctuary and opportunity to recharge their batteries. For extroverts, it can send them into a meltdown. Twenty-nine-year-old Francesca Specter falls into the latter category. That is, until now. The journalist, podcaster and author has spent years struggling to enjoy her own space and was determined to learn to practise solitude. In 2019, she coined the term ‘alonement‘, which she defines as celebrating the time you spend alone. “It’s giving dignity and value to solitude, in a hyper-connected society,” she writes on her website. The concept was born out of realising that while there were negative words to describe the state of being alone (like loneliness and reclusiveness), there weren’t many positive ones. “If