“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” Bell Hooks, the late American author.
A good friend once told me as a student, don’t try to live with a woman until you learn to live with yourself. I hadn’t learned that lesson before my short-lived first marriage, but I did before my long-lived current marriage. I should have listened.
It is a long, arduous journey we take. Isn’t it? Mine would be far more difficult and far less joyful outside the hands of God.
Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey 