Since Sunday, I have been mulling on this quote by Edward Gibbon - "Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius."
Yesterday, after quoting one of my all-time favourite essays, I got thinking about the other things I have read that made a massive impact on me. I think it was the Gibbon quote that brought up a vague but strong memory of me sharing an essay on solitude widely. For the life of me, I could not remember the title of the essay. All I remembered was the contents of the essay and the first name of the author. A couple of Google searches later, I rediscovered William Deresiewicz's essay on Solitude and Leadership. I closed my laptop for the day, basking in the knowledge that I had an amazing piece of writing to savour the next morning. I wanted to read it with a fresh mind.
A hot cup of black coffee, the silence of 5:10 am, and Deresiewicz's gem of an essay - actually a lecture he gave at West Point, a military academy in the US - made my morning perfect.
I won't summarise it here because some essays deserve to be experienced in full. So, find 30 minutes of quiet time, grab a cup of coffee or chai, and immerse yourself in Deresiewicz's brilliant reflections on solitude and leadership.