Isolation

This post has been long since coming. The reason is that I have been caught up with other forms of writing, stories to be precise. I have wanted to keep updating this section of the blogsphere, and I got my chance today.

I was working on a story when a friend of mine sent me a message saying that she was disturbed. We began discussing it and as usual, one thing led to another. The topic that I want to touch upon today is isolation.

The reason that she was disturbed was that she was in a place where nothing that she wanted happened. On the contrary, whatever she did not want to happen seemed to happen.

How does one live in an atmosphere where one feel stifled? How does one cope when, in her own words, “you feel like a donkey in a cow shed, where the cowherd is deaf, blind and has no hands?”

What she was trying to say was that she was in a place where she was one of a kind (I think that everyone is one of a kind) and no one was giving her the due that she deserved.

My response, having been in a similar situation myself is simple, isolation.
When I say isolation, as usual, I need to refer to the dictionary to come up with the official meaning and then I will follow it up with my sermons.

For the first time the dictionary has given many meanings to the word, I am looking for. They are listed as follows
• A state of separation between persons or groups
• The act of isolating something; setting something apart from others
• A feeling of being disliked and alone
• (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which memory of an unacceptable act or impulse is separated from the emotion originally associated with it

Of the four, I have no idea what the last one is. Therefore, I will leave that alone.

Isolation is to mean separation. So taking the third one in conjecture with the first two, isolation can be of two types.

The first is the external isolation. Forces external to oneself cause this. The best example will be the isolation of a particular child in class. When children form a group, it is done on an unwritten code. This is generally based on the likes and dislikes of the majority. When there is a single student in class that is disliked by the others, that person will be isolated by the rest of the group. This is setting that person apart.

On the contrary, it is possible that that child does not like the company of the other children and thus isolates himself/herself. This is the internal isolation where the act of taking someone and setting him or her apart from the rest is done by the person under question.

Now that we have to a certain degree understood what isolation means. I shall try to delve into what causes a person to isolate oneself.

This seems to be against the very human nature of society and the norms formed and followed.

One has to realize that isolation of oneself is a self defense mechanism whereby that person is saying to the world, I do not give a damn to what you all do. I will live my life by my own terms and if you are not okay with that, then you may take a trip to the centre of the earth.

By doing so, one is just rationalizing his/her own existence to himself/herself. When the entire world is on a route that one does not agree to, then one has two choices. He/she can throw out all that they hold near and dear, their own rationale, and follow the bandwagon. Many people take this route.

The other route, albeit much harder is to isolate oneself, and by isolate I mean the figurative sense, and live their own lives.

The figurative sense is that I will live my life as long as it is under the purview of what you prescribe. Once I am at crossroads between what I believe in and what you tell me, I will try to question the reason behind what you say. In case I find a reason in what you say, that the rule has been designed for the masses and I am an exception, I will try to convince you why it is that I have my rule.

The only way that I will follow what you say is if you are able to convince me of the rationale behind it. By this, I mean to say, I will not give up my values, but since I have agreed to be a part of the masses, even though I am an exception to them, I will for sometime put them aside.

By putting them aside I mean to say this, I will do only the things that are common to my ideals and yours. I will choose to ignore the others that are clashing. In case I have a situation wherein I need to do something that is against the system, I will do it in such a way that I am not caught.

At the end of the day, I came alone, I live alone, and I will go alone. I have you here with me along the way, but you are never I.

I am isolated; I am in a bubble, brittle, but nevertheless mine.