A Little Back Shop

"In solitude, where we are least alone." -- Lord Byron

"A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom." -- Michel De Montaigne

The quotation above and at the top of each page of this blog was surely not meant to refer to an actual place, or I never thought so. To me it refers to "a place in the mind" that one can escape to even when sitting in a room full of people. However, it also makes me think of a real place - a room or a dedicated part of a room, inside or outside -- anywhere that is one's own to be by oneself in - and I do believe that such a place, no matter how small or "strange" or messy it may look to others can be a welcome, comforting, and extremely useful haven for an introverted person...a place where they can be themselves, immerse themselves completely in what they're interested in, and think of things and try things that can only be thought of and tried in solitude; and, ironically you might say, since they are alone, it is the place where they best communicate from, in writing and/or through other means of communication, including all the things they create there. It is also a place where one can contemplate well the thoughts and ideas and perspectives and vision and knowledge of others who have obviously spent much of their own time in solitude.

Do extroverts also need such a place, and in fact could they truly treasure and make good use of such a place if only for small amounts of time? Of course introverts and extroverts are not all gathered at extreme ends of the scale.  They are all along the scale, and there are some people in the middle who are introverts at times, extroverts at other times, to different degrees. So I feel sure that a majority of people can probably identify with this craving for a space of one's own - an absolutely private workshop or study type of area. However, the part-introvert/part-extrovert might want to be sure that their private space would look good in a House & Garden type magazine spread, while a "pure" extrovert might think such a personally dedicated area is completely unnecessary and a waste of good space. An introvert doesn't care how it looks; he or she needs that place in order to be themselves. I'm an introvert, myself.