DO YOU DEFINE YOUR SOCIAL NEED?

Sometimes, we all wish to be by ourselves to do some somber reflections about our past actions. It is quite normal that we decide to pass up some opportunities presented by our friends and loved ones for a moment, alone with our thoughts. There are other times that we make up our minds not to step out in the open for a few days because we have some serious decisions to make about the turns our lives are taking. It is not a selfish move to decide not to want to have any form of communication with your usual circles for a given period.

Taking some time away can actually be good for us to engage in some deep thinking about what move to make next in life. We need some soul searching every now and then, for us to be able to cut down our excesses or improve on the quality of our lives. Some evaluations and assessments will not harm anyone when it is done constructively and purposefully. Those times that you devote to be by yourself are very important and they will help keep you on track.

However, it is very unhealthy and injurious to shut out oneself completely from positives of the outside world. We are naturally and innately social beings and we depend on one another to survive. We are dependent on those people we find in our society. There are relationships that we develop among some social groups in our society that will contribute to the person we become in life. Our age grades, people with similar ideology, people who are of the same gender, profession and class with us are most times the people we build a closely knitted relationship with.

A life of absolute seclusion from everyone and everything around us is definitely not the best decision we can make. Our need for inclusion surpasses the need to live alone. We always desire to feel among and affiliate ourselves with some certain groups of people that we believe will have positive impact on our lives. We want to be seen in the company of these people so that people will view us in the light in which they see these people. We are inherently social beings and we should embrace this beautiful characteristic with our shoulder straight and our head held high.

You need to socialise, but rightly define such socialisation.

Mustapha Modupe writes from the University of Ibadan, Oyo state.

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