Silence Isn't Always Golden

Not everyone enjoys solitude. While some of us are perfectly fine being on our own, others, like my good friend "Craig," seem to forever need social interaction. A business consultant, Craig travels a lot. Most people who travel for a living will tell you that the hardest part is the down time spent alone in hotel rooms, with their stiff beds, sticky TV remotes, and standard wall art. Craig doesn't have to deal with the loneliness and boredom of hotel rooms, because he instinctively spends as little time as possible in them when traveling. Instead, he goes to the nearest restaurant or bar, and strikes up a conversation with any available stranger.

Another friend, "Mike," has a similar issue with solitude. While Mike doesn't enjoy being around people (he's a bit of a misanthrope), he can't seem to work alone, either. When we were roommates and Mike was working contracts as a computer programmer, he would sometimes move his entire workstation (computer, desk, and chair) into the living room of the apartment, while I watched television, just so that he wouldn't have to program alone. When the contract was over, the workstation would quickly disappear into his room again.

I've always considered myself to be the exact opposite of Craig and Mike on this issue. Although I envy Craig, in particular, for his apparently instinctive ability to meet new people, I also know that he has a tough time keeping still for very long. That being said, having recently gone from employment in a lively workplace to being between jobs, I suddenly find that my own feelings on the subject of solitude have changed.

It's kind of funny. For some, the chatter, constant ringing of the telephones, bumping of chairs against desks, beeps of equipment, and/or loud laughter of our colleagues – i.e., the normal sounds of a busy workplace – can sometimes feel like the greatest impediment to our professional or even personal lives. So we close our office doors, if possible, or find some other way to shut out the noise. And then we start to dream of sitting, undisturbed, by a fire on a quiet lake, or in a comfortable chair, reading a good book.

Once the background noise of the workplace is really gone, however, even the most introverted start to miss it. Why? Because it's hardly ever the big thoughts about life that tend to occupy our solitary musings when we're unemployed and between jobs. Instead, most of us will either worry about personal matters like buying groceries and paying the mortgage or the rent, or try our best not to think at all.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has a wonderfully cynical view about the value of a profession. "A profession," he writes, "makes us thoughtless: therein lies its greatest blessing. For it is a bulwark, behind which we are allowed to withdraw when qualms and worries of a general kind attack us."

And maybe that's the lesson here. For those who ever find themselves complaining about their coworkers' constant babbling about last night's episode of American Idol or who dream of "just getting away" from the workplace – take a moment and think about what would otherwise occupy your thoughts. The silence isn't always golden.

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