Table For One

Here is a table for one at the White Castle on Central Parkway in Cincinnati, Ohio.

You are dining alone if you are at this table.

There is a lot to be said for being by yourself. Going out by yourself gives you the time and space you need to read, think, and reflect.

What Shall My Wife And I Do With Our Day Off?

I have tomorrow off with my wife.

What will we do?

First, as you see above, we will get dressed up. We are quite formal people.

Then, we are going to go to the U.S. Post Office to mail off some holiday gifts.

My father-in-law worked at the U.S. Post Office for many years. His work helped my wife be able to attend college.

Please support your local post office.

Here is the link to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The wife and I once went there.

After the post office, I regret to say that we must go to the Apple Computer Store in the Houston Galleria.

You see that iphone in my hand in the picture above?

I dropped it last night and shattered the screen.

I’m not so pleased with this fact.

I do not want to go to the crowded Galleria nine days before Christmas, but hopefully it will be early enough in the morning to beat most of the crowds.

After the Apple Store, the wife and I will have lunch at a Japanese restaurant.

We use forks. Neither of us can handle chopsticks.

When the wife and I go out to eat, we bring newspapers and magazines to read.

We read and we talk to each other.  It goes quite well.

After lunch, we are going to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

The wife and I will see an exhibit called Faberge–Imperial Jeweler to the Tsars.

After the museum, the wife and I may—or may not—take a walk in Houston’s Hermann Park.

The walk will depend on the weather and what time of day we are done with all we plan to do.

My wife and I will have a great day off together.

Take some time to be with the people you value in life.

At the same time, be sure to spend some time alone.

A balance of time with people you care about and time spent alone makes for a well-adjusted personality.

That is my theory at least.

The View At Lunch—You Are Not Likely Carving Out Enough Time For Yourself

This was my view at lunch yesterday.

I ate lunch at Brady’s Landing Restaurant. At Brady’s Landing you can see the Houston Ship Channel. This is second time I’ve eaten at Brady’s in the past month.

It is good to eat with others and to talk with others. It is also good to eat by yourself and to have time to read and collect your thoughts.

Different things are relaxing and useful to different people. I find that water and ships help me think.

Behind the restaurant, there is an observation area where you can see the ships and ship channel. 

No matter how good your relationships in life, you need to carve out time for yourself.

If not, you might lose your mind. 

If not, you’ll not think things out to the extent you are able.

You know more and are more capable than you realize. You just are not getting enough time by yourself. 

If anybody from Brady’s reads this, why not comp me a lunch? This blog gets 1450 hits a day.

Here is a previous Texas Liberal post about the need for time alone.

The Need For Both Time Alone & Strong Relationships

( Blogger’s Note—As part of my Summer Solstice blogging break I’m re-running a few posts. I’ll be back to normal posting in a few days. Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.)

I’m someone who often needs time alone so I can think and so I can manage my personality. If I don’t get time alone, I feel like I’m drowning intellectually and, also, I get grouchy.

I’m lucky I have a wife with an almost intuitive understanding of when I need to be alone. I’m lucky my marriage is strong enough that the wife doesn’t take it personally when I want to take a walk or a ride by myself.

Sometimes the desire to withdraw from the company of others is strong. I feel if I could just go a week without talking to anybody, I would make deep and profound blog posts and make great progress on the book I’m working on. (Though with a week alone, I might just go an hour down the road to Galveston and watch the tides and the ships.)    

As my life is structured now, a week alone is not in the cards.     

It’s jarring to go from time alone back to being in contact with others. I feel my thoughts will be lost. Though, fortunately, that’s not really the case. 

My greatest difficulty is in finding the balance between time alone and meaningful interactions with others. How does one successfully possess both temperaments required to make the best of such disparate demands on the intellect and personality?

As far as I can tell, this attribute comes from the same source that good blog posts and progress on a book comes from—Strong mental discipline. It also come from, to a degree,the good luck to have discretionary time and to not have to spend all your effort in life just getting by economically.     

I think I have at least some of the discipline needed to communicate things of value. I will say though that it is a lifelong challenge to reach my personal goals in this respect and to use my time in the best ways possible.

It is specific to each individual as to the steps needed to express what is best about their intellect and personality. It is worth the hard work necessary to figure out what those needed steps are.  

How Does One Balance A Need To Be Alone With The Existence Of Others?

I’m someone who often needs time alone so I can think and so I can manage my personality. If I don’t get time alone I feel like I’m drowning intellectually and, also, I get grouchy.

I’m lucky I have a wife with an almost intuitive understanding of when I need to be alone. I’m lucky my marriage is strong enough that the wife doesn’t take it personally when I want to take a walk or a ride by myself.

Sometimes the desire to withdraw from the company of others is strong. I feel if I could just go a week without talking to anybody, I would then make deep and profound blog posts and make great progress on the book I’m working on. (Though with a week alone, I might just go an hour down the road to Galveston and watch the tides and the ships.)    

As my life is structured now, a week alone is not in the cards.     

It’s jarring to go from time alone back to being in contact with others. I feel that my thoughts will be lost. Though, fortunately, that’s not really the case. 

My greatest difficulty is in finding the balance between time alone and meaningful  interactions with others. How does one successfully possess both temperaments required to make the best of such disparate demands on the intellect and personality?

As far as I can tell, this attribute comes from the same source that good blog posts and progress on a book comes from—Strong mental discipline. It also come from, to a degree,the good luck to have discretionary time and to not have to spend all your effort in life just getting by economically.     

I think I have at least some of the discipline needed to communicate things of value. I will say though that it is a lifelong challenge to reach my personal goals in this regard and to use my time in the best ways possible.

It is specific to each individual as to the steps needed to express what is best about their intellect and personality. It is worth the hard work necessary to figure out what those needed steps are.