Happy Sunday! This week, Ann-Christine from her blog – Leya – is the lovely hostess for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge and this week’s topic – Alone Time.

If you have followed me long enough, you will know I am a big proponent for the idea of solitude aka time to be with oneself. In fact, I have frequently written about needing alone time, particularly in the last few years after my mom’s entire family immigrated to the United States. Before then, it was just me and my mom and suddenly, I went from being responsible for my mother’s problems to having to take care of the problems of 8.

I felt like my tiny bubble was suddenly being invaded from all sides. Being an introvert, I became overwhelmed and desperate for time away from everyone and everything. My aunt and cousin lived in my basement at the time and my aunt was loud. She was either in the kitchen cooking or she’s lazing on my couch watching YouTube videos with the sound turned up or she’s snoring.

You want to know the worst part? Trying to go anywhere alone became something like a prison escape because she would want to go everywhere I went. I remember when I took this trip to the pond early 2019. my mom was away at training that weekend and I had to wait until my aunt was asleep to get out of the house.

This photo was taken on another one of those trips. I went to church that day and headed straight for the mountains after. Thankfully, church was one of the things my aunts and uncles swore they would never set foot in because they’re not believers.

Alone time became even more difficult to acquire after my mom was discharged from the military. She was exactly like her sister, everywhere I went, she would want to tag along and suddenly solitude became this forbidden guilty pleasure I’m dying to have.

This hike was from the summer of 2020 when my mom’s friend came to visit and asked her to be their guide for the day. Thankfully, she told me not to go with her, which I was too happy to comply.

Of course, at that point, I had other hobbies – like gardening – but I needed an escape from the rowdy life with not only my mother but the others as well. I was and am tired of my aunts and uncles only calling me when they needed something they could’ve had their kid do. I also needed an escape from the noises – phone calls, air force jets, my mom watching YouTube videos at top volume. I needed a few moments of pretending I’m the only one exist in this world and I don’t have a family of 8.

Alone time is now so few and far between that part of me have begun to accept the fact that I’m part of this group of individuals who others will never leave alone. I used to take full advantage of the moments I have to myself to jet off to some faraway mountain but lately, I’ve been using those precious moments to admire the things I’m fostering.