Time has been called, "The 4th Dimension" by some thinkers, but, at minimum, it seems to shrink or expand, not obeying any kind of "Natural Law." Individually, few of us feel like we have enough of it to do all we want to do, let alone making space and time for ourselves.
It is generally assumed that "our world," the one we personally inhabit, is the same as the world everyone else lives in. Each of us, wrapped up in our own world, spend little time thinking about other people's worlds/lives, let alone our own. The Native American saying, "Before we can truly understand another person, we must walk a mile in their moccasins. Before we can walk in another persons moccasins, we must first take off our own." The wisdom contained in this saying is profound.
If we do not understand--know consciously--what it is like to be ourselves, how can we "take if off"? And, as a result, the vast majority of individuals cannot begin to understand what it is like to live the life of another person, either.
Gaining time to explore oneself is something that has to be actively worked at, and, frequently, fought for. It is a concept in Western society that is grouped-in with, "being selfish". If one is an adult member of a family, current Programming is to focus on one's children first, one's mate second, and one's self only if you are in some kind of therapy. It is not uncommon in today's world to only have "alone time" if one is in the bathroom, and for many, not even then, if there is only one bathroom.
If one is not currently "attached," much time is spent doing ones best to be actively involved doing things with friends; or in social situations of one kind or another, trying to find someone with whom to be attached. Alternatively, time is filled watching something on a box, or playing something on a box, or talking on a cell phone, or on Facebook. The rest of our time is spent doing what needs to be done to earn enough money to live comfortably.
In today's world, this is "normal." The few individuals who prefer to, "be alone" are believed by the majority to be suffering from, "loneliness." In the more-distant past, they were called, "Black Sheep" if they split themselves off from families. Artists and other creative individuals have all experienced having to pay the price of cutting oneself off from, "normal" society in order to be alone to create. To repeat, those who want to have time to themselves, for whatever reason, have to actively fight to obtain and keep that time for themselves.
Individuals who have been part of a family unit, which is broken apart by a separation or divorce, experience great stress and upset at no longer being, "attached," to the missing members. Men, experiencing being separated from the other members of their unit, and being alone for extended periods for perhaps the first time, handling the, "aloneness" is the most difficult part.
It has been reported that there are now around 300-million individuals in the United States. With the relatively recent development of cell phones, twitter, and Facebook, the whole emphasis is on, "staying connected." For those who are comfortable being alone, this new technological solitary, "connectedness" is nothing short of bizarre.
Only by making time for being alone with oneself, can you hope to begin to discover who you have become up to this point, and what the life you are living is really like. You may be able to achieve this time by building in a new habit as a rationale for it--time to write in a journal, time to meditate, time to exercise, time to take a walk, etc.
Most individuals living in the "normal" world are running on "automatic"; they are unconscious, and do not want to become conscious. What this effort to gain time to be alone with yourself is about is, not only discovering what your world is actually like, and discovering and becoming comfortable with who you are--liking yourself--it is about consciousness.
My self-educational background has been in learning, and writing about, why people do what they do. My educational background includes the study of established Belief Systems in the field of Psychology, ranging from Freudian theory through Abraham Maslow's work on fully-functioning individuals, as well as Art. My BA is in Human Services, and my Masters is in Art Therapy--MA-AT.
In the 1970's I wrote a manuscript, (unpublished) called: You in the Process of Becoming; A Guide to the Self. In it I outlined a systems approach to understanding human behavioral dis-functioning. My current writing and thinking is an outgrowth of the understanding that, if an individual wishes to be able to think, "critically," i.e., originally, clearly and without contamination from Consensus Belief Systems, it is essential for that individual to thoroughly understand their own underlying Belief System.
This approach can be used in understanding an individual's problems in dealing with everyday situations and problems in relationships. In discovering how one's underlying beliefs shape personal behavior, and examining where those beliefs came from, can do much to change the resultant behavior.
You can access my blog at http://www.ruminationsonresponsibilities.blogspot.com/