Alone

 Just because you are alone does not mean you are in solitude.  If you are by yourself, yet thinking you are better than others because of your “solitude” it is not solitude.  If you are alone thinking about yourself, comparing and contrasting yourself, you are simply isolated.  You may be merely resting from having to put up with others.  Solitude begins when you stop thinking about yourself in relation to others, when you begin to have humility for your shortcomings and begin to see how you can be of service to others.  Service will develop in your compassion, forgiveness, acceptance of others, not in your judgments. I can tell when I am simply escaping and when I am truly in solitude.