A recent blog post by author and career coach Fiona MacKay Young had me nodding in agreement. Young, best known for her inspiration journals, is concerned because when we're alone we're not really alone.
"If we're not with others, we are texting, phoning, e-mailing," she writes.
Not to overstate the obvious here, but Young does not see this as a good thing.
Stepping away from all of it, even briefly, she writes, offers us a break from having to perform, as well as the space to tap into dormant creativity and the freedom to sort through daily annoyances.
In short, the time to calm the heck down.
Young's sentiment is shared by Ellie Krug, whom I profiled in my column last week. Krug, an inclusivity champion, notes that 20 minutes of time alone each day is something we all want, regardless of our political party, religious affiliation, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.
I don't know where you find your 20 minutes of Zen, but as we celebrate our collective independence, I hope you find your independence in a favorite chair with a book, or in a bathtub or on a bike or on a horse or in a canoe or in a coffee shop.
I found mine in a surprising place: