Bloganuary Prompt #27: Where do you go when you need solitude?

As an HSP (highly — not overly — sensitive person) I thrive on solitude and need more of it than most. Prolonged, larger gatherings drain me. So where do I go?

Fortunately, I live on 15 acres in a backwoods mountain community. Nature shelters me with quietness yet the wonders and spirituality in the wild confirm I am never really alone.

Doubly fortunate, I’m naturally a gardener. Tending the land and nurturing the garden epitomize solitude for me as does walking amidst austere silhouettes and snow stratified pines during Winter’s stillness. Whatever the season, Mother Nature proffers freedom from a world of technological over-stimulation.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. ― Arthur Schopenhauer