Edel Coffey: The importance of everyday enchantment in nihilistic times
Edel Coffey: letting yourself experience wonder can be a tonic for the times. Photo: Ray Ryan
I came across the term ‘alone audit’ last week. It was part of an article about how difficult it is for some people to be alone. I was reading this article with some irony, considering I am never alone, but this so-called alone audit captured my attention because it was suggesting things that people might do to help them be more content and comfortable in their solitude.
The kind of aloneness the writer was talking about wasn’t the kind most of us are taught to fear — being lonely with no ability to soothe ourselves — but rather the kind of solitude that mothers of young children fantasise about. I call it ‘luxe loneliness’: Reading, walking, exercising, cooking, going to an art gallery, collecting things, and being creative.
