“The lonely existence he was leading, with no fresh food for thought, no novel experiences, no replenishment of ideas, no exchange of impressions received from the outside world, from mixing with other people and sharing in their life, this unnatural isolation which he stubbornly maintained, encouraged the re-emergence in the form of irritating problems of all manner of questions he had disregarded when he was living in Paris” (Huysmans 73).

You’ve been in your own company for too long and it’s not healthy.

Stubborn seclusion. Introversion versus isolation. The goal shouldn’t be to flee completely, but to rest to return. 

The weight of fortification will wear you down quicker than the weight of any obstacle. Allow the past to rest so the rest of the path’s unwinding can commence. The past is our foundation, so let it be such. 

Memorialize it in stone and do right by it, not the childish response of seeking pacification by any means or costs. 

You’re grown now. No more saving yourself with romantic dreams and delusions.

You run from your faults and shortcomings, and in isolation you’ve superficially bolstered areas in hopes of diverting the attention from your insecurities. But the horse you stand on isn’t real, and the facts you use as weapons are blunt. Only in your world are you what and who you want yourself to be, but without challenge, anyone can be queen. 

A false complexity that veneers a lack of integrity. 

Just because you move around a lot doesn’t mean you go anywhere. You say many words, but there’s little truth. 

Pride’s false humility; only the insignificant needs to be heavily advertised.

Work Cited: Huysmans, Joris-Karl. Against Nature. Translated by Robert Baldick, Penguin Books, 2003.