Oct 12, 2026 · 50 min · 10 segments
What’s the difference between being alone, feeling lonely, and experiencing solitude? Victoria and Sheryl explore the nourishing power of time spent alone, the internal and external barriers that keep…
Sheryl PaulHost
Victoria RussellHost
[lips smack] So I was just up at Sunrise, where we led our retreat, and I went there for a solo retreat specifically to finish writing the first draft of my new book.
And the last couple of books I've written, I have written at home, in between things, um, sometimes have been able to carve out, you know, a day to immerse myself in the writing.
But The Wisdom of Anxiety, I was writing in sort of 27, 2017, 2018, when my kids were still younger and home, and homeschooling.
And so it was very much written in between things, which is actually not a way that I mind writing.
Um, when it's just endless hours, it's a little bit more daunting, just as an aside, [laughs] as far as my writing process.
[lips smack] But with neither of those books did I actually sit down with a full printed copy.
And of course, I had editors, and, you know, there was a through line for both of those books.
But, um, I didn't immerse myself in a process in that kind of way, and I really wanted to do it for this book.
I wanted to, because I've been writing this book in some ways for many, many years, and pieces I've written six years ago, you know, are now in this book.
I wanted to print out the whole thing and sit down with it uninterrupted, and read it from beginning to end as if the reader, as if I was the reader.
And I had booked this private solo experience weeks ago, [lips smack] and when it came time for me to go, I had all kinds of voices of resistance coming up.
Do I really need this? Is it necessary? I've written every other book within the parameters of our home life and our family life.
[lips smack] So I was just up at Sunrise, where we led our retreat, and I went there for a solo retreat specifically to finish writing the first draft of my new book.
And the last couple of books I've written, I have written at home, in between things, um, sometimes have been able to carve out, you know, a day to immerse myself in the writing.
But The Wisdom of Anxiety, I was writing in sort of 27, 2017, 2018, when my kids were still younger and home, and homeschooling.
And so it was very much written in between things, which is actually not a way that I mind writing.
Um, when it's just endless hours, it's a little bit more daunting, just as an aside, [laughs] as far as my writing process.
[lips smack] But with neither of those books did I actually sit down with a full printed copy.
And of course, I had editors, and, you know, there was a through line for both of those books.
But, um, I didn't immerse myself in a process in that kind of way, and I really wanted to do it for this book.
I wanted to, because I've been writing this book in some ways for many, many years, and pieces I've written six years ago, you know, are now in this book.
I wanted to print out the whole thing and sit down with it uninterrupted, and read it from beginning to end as if the reader, as if I was the reader.
And I had booked this private solo experience weeks ago, [lips smack] and when it came time for me to go, I had all kinds of voices of resistance coming up.
Do I really need this? Is it necessary? I've written every other book within the parameters of our home life and our family life.
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