Living in Solitude

I moved from a big city to a remote island in Washington that doesn’t have a grocery store or gas station and I’ve never been happier.

Living in solitude can offer profound benefits for self-discovery, creativity, and mental clarity, but it also requires intentionality and self-awareness.

Benefits of Solitude

Self-Discovery and Reflection: Solitude provides a unique opportunity to connect with oneself, allowing for deep introspection and self-reflection. It helps individuals understand their feelings, desires, and values without external influences. 2
Creativity Boost: Many artists, writers, and thinkers have attributed their best work to time spent alone. Solitude can stimulate creativity by providing a quiet space for ideas to flourish and for individuals to tap into their intuition. 2
Mental Clarity: Being alone can help clear the mind of distractions, enabling better focus and decision-making. It allows for contemplation of life’s complexities and can lead to significant personal insights. 2
Emotional Regulation: Solitude can facilitate emotional processing, helping individuals confront and understand their feelings. This can lead to healthier emotional regulation and stress relief. 2

Practical Tips for Embracing Solitude

Conclusion

Living in solitude can be a rewarding experience that fosters personal growth, creativity, and emotional well-being. By embracing solitude intentionally and thoughtfully, individuals can unlock the many benefits it offers while also learning to navigate the challenges that may arise. Whether for a short period or a more extended commitment, solitude can lead to profound insights and a deeper understanding of oneself.

Insider@insider.com (Blakely Spoor)

Tue, July 1, 2025 at 8:43 AM EDT

Blakely Spoor is a writer and photographer based in the Pacific Northwest, known for her evocative storytelling and love of nature. She’s currently working on a publication called Cabin Nine, which celebrates the spirit of the region. After college, she made a bold move from Nashville to a remote island in Washington’s San Juan Islands—a place with no grocery store or gas station, where most residents are decades older than her.

Her writing often explores themes of solitude, community, and the beauty of slower living. You can find her recollections and essays on Madison Spain Club a Substack she co-authors with Savannah Spoor. It’s full of poetic musings, seasonal updates, and heartfelt observations from island life.

Tell me more about Blakely Spoor’s publications.

Blakely Spoor’s writing paints a vivid portrait of life in the Pacific Northwest, often blending personal reflection with natural imagery and themes of solitude, community, and nostalgia.

Cabin Nine This is her current project—a publication that serves as an ode to the Pacific Northwest. It’s inspired by her experiences living on a remote island in Washington, where she’s surrounded by wildlife, driftwood beaches, and a slower pace of life.

Can you summarize her book ‘Cabin Nine’?

Archive – Cabin Nine

Blakely Spoor is pouring her love for the Pacific Northwest.

Into a new project called Cabin Nine:

A publication that captures the spirit of the region through writing and photography. Known for her evocative storytelling and deep connection to nature, Spoor draws inspiration from her life on a remote island in Washington—where there’s no grocery store or gas station, just quiet beauty and a slower pace.

If you’re into forest paths, coastal fog, and the kind of introspection that only moss-covered solitude can offer, Cabin Nine might be your next favorite read. Want to explore what themes or visuals she’s weaving into it?

What aspects of the Pacific Northwest inspire her work?

Blakely Spoor finds deep inspiration in the natural beauty and quiet rhythms of the Pacific Northwest. Her writing and photography often reflect:

Forest Wanderings – She’s known for meandering through enchanted forest paths, capturing the lush greenery and misty atmosphere that define the region.

Agate Collecting – Spoor has a fondness for beachcombing and collecting agates, a hobby that connects her to the geological and coastal character of the area.

Remote Island Living – After moving from Nashville to a secluded island in Washington with no grocery store or gas station, she’s embraced a slower, more intentional lifestyle. This shift deeply influences her storytelling, emphasizing solitude, simplicity, and connection to place.

Local Culture – Exploring neighborhood coffee shops and small communities adds a human layer to her work, blending nature with the warmth of local life.

Her project Cabin Nine is a tribute to these elements—an ode to the Pacific Northwest’s quiet magic. Want to dive into how she translates these inspirations into visual storytelling?

How does her remote island living influence her storytelling?

Blakely Spoor’s life on a remote island in Washington profoundly shapes her storytelling by infusing it with solitude, intentionality, and sensory detail. After leaving Nashville, she moved to a cabin in the San Juan Islands—no grocery store, no gas station, and neighbors mostly decades older. This shift from urban bustle to quiet isolation gives her work a reflective, almost meditative tone.

Here’s how that lifestyle seeps into her creative voice:

Nature as a Narrative Anchor – Her daily walks along rocky beaches and views of seals, eagles, and shorebirds become recurring motifs. These moments aren’t just scenic—they’re emotional touchstones that ground her stories in place.

Embracing Imperfection – The cabin she lives in was built in two weeks and wasn’t meant for full-time living. Its creaky windows and rotting deck symbolize a kind of raw authenticity that she channels into her writing.

Planning and Resourcefulness – With limited access to supplies and only one public access point, her life requires meticulous planning. That sense of intentional living translates into storytelling that’s deliberate and deeply personal.

Intergenerational Connection – Most of her neighbors are 30+ years older, which adds layers of wisdom and perspective to her narratives. She often reflects on these relationships and the quiet strength of community.

Her storytelling isn’t just about the Pacific Northwest—it’s shaped by the rhythms of living slowly, listening deeply, and finding meaning in the mundane. Want to explore how she brings these themes into Cabin Nine visually?

1 Cabin Nine | Substack

A pocket of our pacific northwest world – Cabin Nine

Blakely Spoor’s Cabin Nine isn’t a traditional book—it’s more of an ongoing publication or creative project that celebrates the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. While there isn’t a formal summary available like you’d find on a book jacket, here’s what we know:

Essence of Cabin Nine It’s a deeply personal and atmospheric tribute to life on a remote island in Washington’s San Juan Islands. Spoor draws from her own experience living in a cabin with no grocery store or gas station, surrounded by seals, shorebirds, and driftwood beaches.

Themes and Style

Nature and solitude
Community and intergenerational friendships
Reflections on slow living and intentional choices
Visual storytelling through photography and Super 8 footage

Tone and Voice Her writing is nostalgic, poetic, and grounded in real-life moments—like watching seals bob in the waves from her kitchen window or walking the rocky beach each morning.

If you’re drawn to quiet, reflective narratives that feel like a handwritten letter from a friend, Cabin Nine might be right up your alley. Want help finding where to read or subscribe to it?

Madison Spain Club on Substack Blakely co-authors this with Savannah Spoor. It’s a collection of essays and reflections that explore themes like:

The Weight of an Offering – thoughts on giving and receiving
Island Time – updates from life on the island
Autumn on the Island – seasonal reflections and Super 8 footage
From a Morning at the Coffee Shop – musings on unexpected community
Lessons from an Anthropologist – stories of friendship and resilience

Personal Essays She’s also written about her move from Nashville to a remote island in Washington, describing the challenges and joys of living in a place with no grocery store or gas station. Her reflections highlight the beauty of simplicity and the unexpected friendships she’s formed with older neighbors.

If you’re into slow living, nature writing, or heartfelt storytelling, her work is a cozy rabbit hole worth exploring. Want me to pull up one of her essays or help you subscribe to her Substack?

Blakely Spoor’s writing style is intimate, lyrical, and deeply rooted in place.

Here’s a breakdown of the key elements that define her voice:

Tone Her tone is reflective and tender, often tinged with nostalgia. Whether she’s writing about island life or a morning coffee shop encounter, there’s a quiet reverence for the ordinary.

Diction Spoor favors poetic, sensory-rich language. She uses simple words with emotional weight, often choosing metaphors drawn from nature or domestic life—like “the breakfast loaf” or “the weight of an offering.”

Syntax Her sentence structure tends to be flowing and rhythmic, with a mix of short, emphatic lines and longer, meandering thoughts. This creates a meditative pace that mirrors the slow-living themes she explores.

Imagery Visual detail is central to her style. As a photographer, she brings a keen eye to her writing, painting scenes with texture and light—whether it’s moss-covered paths or the glow of a kitchen window.

Themes Spoor’s work often circles around solitude, community, memory, and the tension between modern life and timeless rituals. She writes with a sense of longing, but also deep appreciation.

Her style feels like a handwritten letter tucked into a book—personal, thoughtful, and quietly profound. Want me to compare her style to another writer or analyze a specific piece more closely?

Blakely Spoor has contributed a number of thoughtful essays and reflections, many of which appear on the Substack publication Madison Spain Club. Here are a few standout pieces:

“The Weight of an Offering” – A meditation on giving and receiving, co-written with Savannah Spoor “Lost to Our Generation” – A nostalgic look at traditions and values they hope to revive “Island Time” – musings from life on a remote island “From a Morning at the Coffee Shop” –

“The Breakfast Loaf” – A playful dive into food blogging and cozy routines!!!

A heartfelt piece about unexpected community

She also penned a travel article for Tripadvisor titled “A self-guided tour of Nashville’s coolest murals”, offering a vibrant itinerary through the city’s street art scene. If you’re drawn to poetic storytelling and reflections on slow living, her work is a lovely place to linger. Want me to pull quotes or explore themes from one of these?

We are two sisters who have been hip-to-hip since birth.

From our birth town of Las Vegas, to our stint at maritime life on Bainbridge Island, Washington, – Search Videos to living nestled between exploding volcanoes in Antigua, Guatemala, to finally growing roots among the wild rivers and towering mountains of Ketchum, Idaho—we’ve been around. College took us to Nashville, Tennessee, and now, we navigate the awkward season of “post-grad” life.

Madison Spain Club is a flow of consciousness for our crazy little lives. It is meant to give you a candid and real glimpse into our worlds, as if you were having a conversation with a close friend over coffee. We surprise ourselves with new words, lessons, and stories every Sunday. Get cozy and settle in, we are so happy to have you here .

<3 XOXO, Blakely & Savannah

I moved from Nashville to a remote island in Washington.

After college, I moved from Nashville to a remote island in Washington.
There’s no grocery store or gas station here, and most residents are at least 30 years my senior.
Living here full-time requires careful planning, but it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Last summer, I felt stuck. I was a year out of college and living in Nashville, with no idea where to go next.

Most of my friends were headed to New York City, with a few straying from the norm by going to other big cities, like Denver or Dallas. I, however, veered entirely off the norm — practically skidding on two wheels — by moving to a tiny, remote spot in Washington’s San Juan Islands where I spent summers as a kid in my family’s cabin.

The small island wasn’t on my short list of places to move postgrad. In fact, it wasn’t on any of my lists. However, the appeal of a slower pace of life, coupled with the quintessential feelings of being lost in my 20s, compelled me to try living there.

Living here is unlike anything I’ve experienced before

I have a gorgeous view from my kitchen window. Blakely Spoor

My family’s 40-year-old cabin was built in just two weeks and was never meant to be lived in full-time. It has single-pane glass windows that creak with every gust of wind, and the rotting deck grows even more rotted with each rainy season that passes.

It’s a far cry from my high-rise existence in Nashville, but it has its benefits.

The beaches, scattered with sun-worn driftwood, stretch on for miles, with scarcely another person in sight.

While sitting at my kitchen table, I watch seals bobbing in the waves, shorebirds diving for their dinner, eagles scanning the land down below, and geese flapping their strong wings as they take off. Almost every morning, I walk the rocky expanse of beach that lies outside my front door.

Every Unknown, Every Crossroad – by Blakely Spoor

However, life on the island has its quirks.

Gone are the days of my convenient city existence, where everything I needed was within a few-mile radius. In fact, my new home has no grocery store, no gas station, and only one point of public access.

Trips to the mainland can only be made via a small water taxi, which operates a handful of times throughout the week. Thankfully, modernity has started to catch up, with the frequency of the island taxi runs increasing and even enabling local grocery delivery through Instacart.

Living here full-time requires meticulous planning, thorough lists and a sprinkle of resourcefulness.

I’ve even formed unlikely friendships with my older neighbors

In Nashville, I was surrounded by neighbors on the 15th floor of an apartment building — yet I never met a single one of them. Here, however, it didn’t take long for me to form close bonds with the locals.

They’re a hearty, salty, rugged bunch, and I quickly learned that I would do best to avoid getting on their bad side. They’re the kind of people who can catch, kill, and fix anything, and most of them are at least 30 years my senior.

I, on the other hand — young, bright-eyed, and with little to no hard skills — definitely did not fit the mold of an island resident. Despite this, I was welcomed into the community with open arms.

On the eve of the first bad winter storm, my 75-year-old neighbor came barreling down the dirt road in his mandarin-orange 1970s pick-up. He wanted to ensure I was prepared for the storm and even offered his place up the hill in case of a power outage.

He, along with our 92-year-old neighbor — another gruff but gentle gentleman — would become my most dutiful, watchful caretakers. We exchange chocolate chip cookies for backyard apples, compare foraged beach treasures, and grab groceries for each other in town.

On the island, looking out for others in your community is the most valuable form of currency.

I couldn’t be happier with my decision to embrace island life

I feel so lucky to live on the island. Blakely Spoor

Living in Solitude – Search

Here, I’ve found a sense of community that I never knew before. I’ve discovered a lifestyle that is filled with adventure, joy, and the kind of self-confidence that only comes from learning resourcefulness.

Every day, I’m lucky to experience a connection with — and reverence for — the natural world that surrounds me.

I know my life looks different than that of my peers.

There are no coffee shops to frequent every morning, no going to restaurants with friends on a Friday night, and don’t even get me started on the dating scene. It’s the last place anyone would expect a 23-year-old to choose to live, let alone love.

Blakely Spoor – Search

Those of you who grew up in a rural setting/small town but now live in an urban area/big city (or vice-versa), what motivated your relocation? : r/AskAnAmerican

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Blakely Spoor (@blakelymspoor) • Instagram photos and videos