Just a few moments ago I was looking over my school schedule, for no reason beyond boredom. I was reminded that next semester, my lunch changes to a different time slot. I was "lucky" enough to find people to sit with in both of my lunches this semester (block scheduling leaves us with two), but what if I didn't know anyone with X lunch in second semester?
The answer is painfully simple: sit alone! I love being alone. I generally dislike people and find most of their chatter an annoying interruption to my thoughts. Hence, sitting by myself should have been an obvious and easy choice.
But sitting alone is neither obvious nor, indeed, easy. Society has so brainwashed us into a pro-social mindset, that even extreme introverts like myself balk at being without companions. I enjoy solitude in every other situation, yet sitting alone at lunch makes me anxious, paranoid. "Are they laughing at me? Did that girl just point to me? Did that guy just whisper something about me?" etc.
One set of my lunch mates last school year were horrible. We were basically ex-friends, just grew apart. I hated them and their mindless gossip, and they probably didn't love me either. Yet I still sat with them. Why didn't I just go off by myself? I could've sat at a different table and read or done homework when I finished eating. I could've stayed there for the whole lunch period if I wanted (not that we get very long). But instead I sat with Them, every.single.day. Why? Because you couldn't sit alone! You just couldn't!
There is no logical reason not to sit by yourself, unless of course you are worried about what the herd thinks of you. I, like most (if not all) loners, don't care. If anything, I'd rather they think I was some weird antisocial nerd than a gossiping teenager like themselves. However, Society's message had penetrated my mind so deeply that I couldn't escape it. I didn't even realize it wasn't MY thought, at first.
I am sick of the stigmas attached to sitting alone: I must not have friends, I must be unhappy, No one must like me, etc. If people feel scorn or pity for someone sitting alone, it only proves how heavily they rely on Society's standards. I challenge everyone to sit by themselves, if they want. I challenge the rest to accept this.
If I find someone in my lunch second semester, someone that I genuinely like, then I'll sit with them. But I will NOT be pressured into sitting with someone whose company I don't enjoy. I will sit alone, and I will be happy and proud to do so. Perhaps a fellow loner will see me, happily eating and reading with no companions, and realize that ze too can eat by hirself. And maybe ze will start sitting alone and inspire another loner. And maybe it will spread and spread until finally, one day, sitting by yourself will be the obvious and easy choice it should be.
