Keeping one's own company because hell is other people

"Hell is other people" - This is something we often hear and talk about, but what we usually do not know is that it comes from one of the most famous writings of the French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. So let us have a look at the play "No Exit" that made this saying so popular. The play was first performed in 1944 shortly before the end of World War II. It talks about three people a man and two women who are all dead and come together in the afterlife. It seems like they are being punished for the sins they committed while they were alive as they are all locked in one room for eternity. They see the place where they are as hell and try to figure out why they ended up there and what their punishment is. Although they think they are going to be tortured it quickly turns out that this is not the case. Instead they make each other miserable through everyone individual's presence. This play is supposed to support Sartre's existentialist view that there is a perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object in the world of another consciousness.

So the characters eventually realise that hell is not the room they are trapped in or the torture that they thought is awaiting them, but it is more likely other people.
Without a doubt the phrase hell is other people is still being used and referred to. It seems like we all ask ourselves the question whether we can be ourselves or not. Usually we all try and the internet is full of self-confidence boosting quotes and sayings that we need to be ourselves. But is that even possible? The existentialist view says no because we are always influenced by other people's opinions.
What do we actually do for ourselves? Most of the time we do things not because we want to, but because we have been shaped by people's beliefs that this is the right way to act. We always find ourselves in the middle of what we want to be and what other people want us to be. Now do you really want to be a Law major or is this what people want from you? We could ask this question with anything in life. Point is we cannot escape it as Sartre and Beauvoir claimed, but we can accept it and be aware of it because that is the only way to accept this kind of  "No Exit" situation.

Another thing that you need to do is keep your own company as much as you can. This is probably the best response to all the noise around us that seems to be drowning out ours. Enjoy being alone with yourself and your own thoughts without having people around all the time because sometimes people can be exhausting let us be honest. This is not about hating other people by the way, but only about appreciating your own company a bit more.

Just take it from one of Queen B's songs: Me, myself and I! That's all I got (or let us say want) in the end!