I don't think many people understand the difference between loneliness and solitude.

Solitude involves the choice of retreating from people, while loneliness seems beyond control. Perhaps the two could be linked.

I will start by saying that I am a musician and a writer and I consider myself an artist, art being the product of an arrangement of emotions and senses.

And when an artist feels like he hasn't done enough to convey these emotions, or is not satisfied, there is chaos.

It must have started when I decided that my sole purpose in life was to be an artist some years ago.

Music was going to be my life's work, and I was never going to let that go. Time passed, and I left school.

This gave me more time to develop my skill and explore other genres and techniques but somewhere, deep down inside, I was never satisfied with what I was doing.

Even with my poetry and short stories. People said they liked it, and I think they were sincere, but it just wasn't good enough for me and I could never know what it was they liked about my work.

There was a period where I absolutely hated and detested every thing that I wrote. When I couldn't take it anymore, I completely shut myself away from everything for a few months.

I deleted my Facebook account and left my phone off, and didn't speak to a single person.

Some days I felt like smashing my guitar and abandoning music forever, but music was the only thing that I had.

That is solitude.

The other equally distressing part was that nobody understood.

I felt like I just could not connect with other people, even close friends with what I was going through.

That is loneliness.

However, I couldn't abandon music. I could be pretty sensitive sometimes, so whenever I was hurt, or angry, or upset in some way, my guitar was the first thing I would reach for and still, I was never satisfied, and the more unsatisfied I was, the more I couldn't connect with people and the more I could not connect, the more I sank.

Interestingly enough though, I think it was this period of hitting rock-bottom that helped me become a better Artist.

I became more in tune with my emotions, taking time to feel.

Some days I was so depressed, all I wanted to do was put a gun to my head and I just felt it.

Other days, I was in really good moods (thank you, Animal Planet) and again, I felt it.

I tried once more to channel feeling into my music.

And for the first time in years, I was content and I must say, I've been doing a good job at it these last few months.

I believe my solitude presented an obstacle that still leaves somewhat of a challenge communicating with people simply because I just don't want to talk about it, which means the loneliness is still there.

But I learned not to fight it. Loneliness is an emotion, just like all the others I experienced in my life and strange as it sounds, it is possibly my favourite one.

The sting of sadness and emptiness was the stepping stone that I used to channel other emotions into bringing out the best in my work.

I wouldn't be an artist if I never learned how to be lonely.

How do you deal with loneliness?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

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