“Dumb” is relative. Relative to how closed-minded a person shows themselves to be. Or maybe relative to how much judgement they carry in their perception? Nothing is real.
That's been my motto this pass year, go at it alone. I just turned 37 in August, and I can say that I don't care what anyone thinks. I rather be alone and be free to do what I want and start living.
Tl;dr: I believe this video is about initiative, individuated thought, and a sense of fully formed personhood. Those get lumped together as “going it alone,” but they’re not the same. I’m writing this (loooong) comment because I think that this video is trying to counteract a cultural lie-that other people’s opinions about your behavior matter-by unintentionally reenforcing another, which is that aloneness is a thing (and a brave thing at that). As someone who is happy on her own, but who spent seven years 95% housebound while living alone with chronic illness,and who has been traveling solo in a camper van for three, I have thought a LOT about aloneness in all its flavors-solitude, serenity, loneliness, isolation, powerlessness, self-containedness, self-centeredness, self-directedness. Trying things on our own initiative is not the same as trying things “alone.” I would suggest based on long experience that what people call aloneness is only “Aloneness Lite.” We dwell in community, no matter what. The following are relatively trivial examples of community, but if you play games *your fellow humans created* with rule systems communicated in a language you understand, watch TH-cam content *your fellow humans created* that was built to help you, engage with comments *your fellow humans created*-you dwell in community. In fact, if you live in any way other than as a renegade, Stone Age savage with +6 Survival, true aloneness is not your reality. Aloneness isn’t a matter of feeling. It isn’t even a matter of being in the same room with someone. The degree to which you do or don’t notice the communities that make your life possible-to which you take them for granted and go numb to them-determines how alone you feel. The degree to which you believe you are an *equal* part of the human community-a human who matters-determines how free you feel to try new, uncomfortable things without permission, approval, etc. “Going it alone” does not make you more or less able to do these things. Being a fully individuated, mature human helps you do those things. So don’t “go it alone” and expect to get anywhere. Go be equal, with or without company. Go be authentic. Go be thankful for the communities that support you, even when they’re not in the room with you. Then you’ll have fun starting new, scary things on your own initiative. (You might even have fun playing solo games.)
I _so_ needed to hear this! In the silence after this played, while I reflected upon these words, I heard a small voice deep within my mind say to me, "Don't apologize when you go it alone."
Really enjoyed this. I used to need my work to be seen, on social media or by strangers in a gallery. Now I just draw for myself (other than client work which obviously needs to be seen!). There's something about doing it just for yourself, knowing that nobody will ever see it. Almost like scrawling a shape in the sand, knowing the waves will wash it away. Itmakes it more important, not less. Thanks for posting this, much appreciated from a distant shore.
Very wise and it is a message that folks need to hear. We live in an age where people, especially young people, are on social media getting depressed because others aren't validating them enough. They are being boxed into "norms" by chasing likes. They see the image others project online and try to emulate that even though that image is not reality. Be yourself and be at ease with being alone. It will make the world a more interesting place than if we all try to conform in an attempt to be loved.
TOTALLY 100%. I and my colleagues were trained to 'go it alone' if that is what became necessary to 'do the task'. GO IT ALONE and when you finish you are SO MUCH STRONGER....Stella, Helen with Katarin and Terri With Robyn.
Woke up this morning and chose....positivity. Found you after TH-cam recommended a video on how to start solo role playing; liked and subscribed after the non-sequitur humor and content.
I can see this video hitting me completely different depending on the day, week, year, mindset. Maybe that’s the beauty of it (for me). Thanks for sharing!
This is a great companion to How to Be Alone by Andrea Dorfman. She made a video I watch from time to time and one time I ran across it in book form in the library (while alone obviously! lol). I really like this one from Man Alone, for getting started on things. Edit: listened to it a few more times and this video (the man alone one) is even more about freedom
This couldn't of come at a more trying time for me, i escaped a domestic abuse relationship 2 weeks ago and im feeling the burn of what she did to me but im in the mindset of growth so ive kind of hit the ground running with everything, trying to get financially independent, realising that saying sorry constantly isnt necessary, im struggling but im rebuilding myself brick by brick and i wont stop, im just going to keep going until im completely free so i can return to normality. I feel like ive been in a coma and that ive just woke up
@@Moo2-v9v time for you to get back to the master plan my friend. It hurts to end things but now you can collect the full breadth of your power again. Create things, those things will keep you company
@@amanisalone true, creativity is like a freedom no one can take away, even in the darkest times its kept me going :) thankyou, for your videos too, even when i felt crap while in it they made me smile, great sense of humour :)
Video 30 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey. Psssst. Studio Ghibli Ranking List Psychoanalysis & Deep Dive.
Wait I just realized we’re talking about different things. I’m talking about the new podcast called The Solo Roleplayers podcast where Man Alone is getting interviewed in the first episode. But there’s also his premium subscription that I listened to the first one (edit: wait, not the first one, there's content going way back), that I forgot I signed up to. I’ll have to figure out what site that was on (in the description)
This message is important, and it really resonates with me. However, I usually watch your videos and obsess over the odd way you hold a pencil, and that special magic is lacking from this video. "Don't know what you got, 'till it's gone..."
@@amanisalone "BRUH, HE'S STRAIGHT BABY-FISTING IT!" - Actual quote by me, to no one in particular because I don't really know anybody. You're doing the Lord's work, sir. I really like the last couple of Cy-Borg LP's.
my problem with solo roleplaying is a lack of dopamine. I show up to games with others (scheduled and accountability), but I can't be motivated by myself.
Just to share my perspective on that... I heavily journal, make maps, create character portraits, do programming, and more all as part of my solo hobby. I get that dopamine hit from a clever turn of phrase, 'table talk' between the players cracking jokes, the oracle throwing me a curve ball, and finding that clever interpretation of a word, image, or card that makes a story element click into place, or solving that programming problem for one of my utilities. It's the small rewards rather than the big rush that carries me.
@toddzircher6168 Thanks for the insight. I probably would, too. I'm just suffering for burnout right now. So, I mostly just consume content. Hopefully, that will change soon.
And don't wait until you find or purchase the "perfect" solo game. Start playing today with games you have or can find free online. Streamline them as necessary. Buy solo games if you like, but don't wait on them to get rolling.
I dug this. I have to ask if you are a fan of Bukowski, because this made me think of "All the Way" and "The Laughing Heart." This is excellent and thank you for sharing it!
Weird you say this - I was almost about to read a poem from "Sometimes You Get So Lonely it Just Makes Sense" but couldn't find a good one that didn't have an oblique mention of "the whores," which if a casual viewer is not familiar with Bukowski that might come off a bit jarring. But yes, that beautiful asshole got me through my late teens and early 20s and I'll love him for ever, bastard that he is.
I’d say this is a bit dumb but you’ve already established that you aren’t afraid of me thinking its a bit dumb.
U dum.
“Dumb” is relative. Relative to how closed-minded a person shows themselves to be. Or maybe relative to how much judgement they carry in their perception? Nothing is real.
That's been my motto this pass year, go at it alone. I just turned 37 in August, and I can say that I don't care what anyone thinks. I rather be alone and be free to do what I want and start living.
Tl;dr: I believe this video is about initiative, individuated thought, and a sense of fully formed personhood. Those get lumped together as “going it alone,” but they’re not the same.
I’m writing this (loooong) comment because I think that this video is trying to counteract a cultural lie-that other people’s opinions about your behavior matter-by unintentionally reenforcing another, which is that aloneness is a thing (and a brave thing at that).
As someone who is happy on her own, but who spent seven years 95% housebound while living alone with chronic illness,and who has been traveling solo in a camper van for three, I have thought a LOT about aloneness in all its flavors-solitude, serenity, loneliness, isolation, powerlessness, self-containedness, self-centeredness, self-directedness.
Trying things on our own initiative is not the same as trying things “alone.” I would suggest based on long experience that what people call aloneness is only “Aloneness Lite.” We dwell in community, no matter what. The following are relatively trivial examples of community, but if you play games *your fellow humans created* with rule systems communicated in a language you understand, watch TH-cam content *your fellow humans created* that was built to help you, engage with comments *your fellow humans created*-you dwell in community. In fact, if you live in any way other than as a renegade, Stone Age savage with +6 Survival, true aloneness is not your reality.
Aloneness isn’t a matter of feeling. It isn’t even a matter of being in the same room with someone. The degree to which you do or don’t notice the communities that make your life possible-to which you take them for granted and go numb to them-determines how alone you feel.
The degree to which you believe you are an *equal* part of the human community-a human who matters-determines how free you feel to try new, uncomfortable things without permission, approval, etc. “Going it alone” does not make you more or less able to do these things. Being a fully individuated, mature human helps you do those things.
So don’t “go it alone” and expect to get anywhere. Go be equal, with or without company. Go be authentic. Go be thankful for the communities that support you, even when they’re not in the room with you. Then you’ll have fun starting new, scary things on your own initiative. (You might even have fun playing solo games.)
Amazing message, beautifully delivered. Thank you for putting this out there.
I _so_ needed to hear this! In the silence after this played, while I reflected upon these words, I heard a small voice deep within my mind say to me, "Don't apologize when you go it alone."
Really enjoyed this. I used to need my work to be seen, on social media or by strangers in a gallery. Now I just draw for myself (other than client work which obviously needs to be seen!). There's something about doing it just for yourself, knowing that nobody will ever see it. Almost like scrawling a shape in the sand, knowing the waves will wash it away. Itmakes it more important, not less.
Thanks for posting this, much appreciated from a distant shore.
Thank you for this. If no one appreciates it, I will. This applies to so many aspects of the rest of my self right now.
Message received.
Very wise and it is a message that folks need to hear. We live in an age where people, especially young people, are on social media getting depressed because others aren't validating them enough. They are being boxed into "norms" by chasing likes. They see the image others project online and try to emulate that even though that image is not reality. Be yourself and be at ease with being alone. It will make the world a more interesting place than if we all try to conform in an attempt to be loved.
Thank you.
TOTALLY 100%. I and my colleagues were trained to 'go it alone' if that is what became necessary to 'do the task'. GO IT ALONE and when you finish you are SO MUCH STRONGER....Stella, Helen with Katarin and Terri With Robyn.
I few times I literally found myself thinking, "But I'm afraid that...."
yup. that...
Skip the roll for initiative and just go!!! Thank you for sharing
Woke up this morning and chose....positivity. Found you after TH-cam recommended a video on how to start solo role playing; liked and subscribed after the non-sequitur humor and content.
when people ask how i travel alone by thumb. this here is exactly what i've taught myself years ago. great message bro ^^
Pilgrims are never lost brother. Keep following that thumb forever
I can see this video hitting me completely different depending on the day, week, year, mindset. Maybe that’s the beauty of it (for me). Thanks for sharing!
thanks, brother.
Love this
Well said. I most always play solo.
This is a great companion to How to Be Alone by Andrea Dorfman. She made a video I watch from time to time and one time I ran across it in book form in the library (while alone obviously! lol). I really like this one from Man Alone, for getting started on things. Edit: listened to it a few more times and this video (the man alone one) is even more about freedom
Beautiful, im saving this one!
Right tune mate
This couldn't of come at a more trying time for me, i escaped a domestic abuse relationship 2 weeks ago and im feeling the burn of what she did to me but im in the mindset of growth so ive kind of hit the ground running with everything, trying to get financially independent, realising that saying sorry constantly isnt necessary, im struggling but im rebuilding myself brick by brick and i wont stop, im just going to keep going until im completely free so i can return to normality. I feel like ive been in a coma and that ive just woke up
@@Moo2-v9v time for you to get back to the master plan my friend. It hurts to end things but now you can collect the full breadth of your power again. Create things, those things will keep you company
@@amanisalone true, creativity is like a freedom no one can take away, even in the darkest times its kept me going :) thankyou, for your videos too, even when i felt crap while in it they made me smile, great sense of humour :)
Video 30 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey.
Psssst. Studio Ghibli Ranking List Psychoanalysis & Deep Dive.
Thanks for the reminder.
Wait I just realized we’re talking about different things. I’m talking about the new podcast called The Solo Roleplayers podcast where Man Alone is getting interviewed in the first episode. But there’s also his premium subscription that I listened to the first one (edit: wait, not the first one, there's content going way back), that I forgot I signed up to. I’ll have to figure out what site that was on (in the description)
This is awesome.
I cried.
Hands you a tissue...and a peanut butter cup...and a squirt gun.
That's a strange roll on the encounter table, NGL. But I enjoyed it
This message is important, and it really resonates with me. However, I usually watch your videos and obsess over the odd way you hold a pencil, and that special magic is lacking from this video.
"Don't know what you got, 'till it's gone..."
@@PAD996 rest assured I’m taking notes on this comment as we speak with my meat hook curled tightly around another hapless graphite victim-stick
@@amanisalone "BRUH, HE'S STRAIGHT BABY-FISTING IT!" - Actual quote by me, to no one in particular because I don't really know anybody.
You're doing the Lord's work, sir. I really like the last couple of Cy-Borg LP's.
You should call this the "solo player's oath"
An Army of One.
my problem with solo roleplaying is a lack of dopamine. I show up to games with others (scheduled and accountability), but I can't be motivated by myself.
Just to share my perspective on that... I heavily journal, make maps, create character portraits, do programming, and more all as part of my solo hobby. I get that dopamine hit from a clever turn of phrase, 'table talk' between the players cracking jokes, the oracle throwing me a curve ball, and finding that clever interpretation of a word, image, or card that makes a story element click into place, or solving that programming problem for one of my utilities. It's the small rewards rather than the big rush that carries me.
@toddzircher6168 Thanks for the insight. I probably would, too. I'm just suffering for burnout right now. So, I mostly just consume content. Hopefully, that will change soon.
And don't wait until you find or purchase the "perfect" solo game. Start playing today with games you have or can find free online. Streamline them as necessary. Buy solo games if you like, but don't wait on them to get rolling.
❤
Thank you! Something tells me this is advice you already knew and took advantage of when you had the chance DesertGal (:
I dug this. I have to ask if you are a fan of Bukowski, because this made me think of "All the Way" and "The Laughing Heart." This is excellent and thank you for sharing it!
Weird you say this - I was almost about to read a poem from "Sometimes You Get So Lonely it Just Makes Sense" but couldn't find a good one that didn't have an oblique mention of "the whores," which if a casual viewer is not familiar with Bukowski that might come off a bit jarring. But yes, that beautiful asshole got me through my late teens and early 20s and I'll love him for ever, bastard that he is.
@@amanisalone That is the best description of that dirty old sod I've ever read. I'm not surprised but remain impressed!
I try TTuTT
So girlfriend dumped you? 😊