Embracing solitude - an essential space to dream and create Many look at solitude as a negative but, as Kilkenny native Cathy Hogan points out, it can be a major boost to our creativity Reporter: '); I have lived alone for much of my life, and often in very isolated places. However, I have never felt lonely or unhappy due to the fact that I have no people to talk to or that my friends aren’t around; therefore, I question the official definition of solitude (right). In fact, the only time I can remember feeling isolated was when I was living in the most populous metropolitan area in the world: Tokyo, a city of 11 million people when I worked there in the early 1990s.