The Story Behind The Solo Pursuit Journal
The idea is that a lot of people feel uncomfortable going out in public alone, and a big part of that comes from societal norms. There’s this unspoken rule that certain activities—going to a restaurant, a movie, or even traveling—are meant to be done with others. You see this reinforced everywhere: in magazines, online, on social media. People constantly ask, How do you go out and do XYZ by yourself?
For a long time, I didn’t understand why this was even a question. Honestly, I found it kind of annoying. It didn’t make sense to me—people go to the grocery store alone, they pump gas alone, they run errands alone all the time. So why is there this specific category of things that suddenly feel off-limits unless you have company?
Then one day, it clicked. The reason the question didn’t make sense to me was because I’ve spent so much time by myself in a variety of public spaces that it didn’t feel unusual. And that’s when I realized: I had an advantage. What if I could use my own comfort with being alone to help someone else build theirs?
The real issue isn’t about the person who’s alone—it’s about how other people react to them being alone. It’s about the way society perceives it, the way people stare, the way they project their own discomfort onto you. It’s external.
The most natural thing I could do was to simply share my own experiences. I was already living this way, so why not write about it? That’s how Solo Pursuits started—blog posts about my experiences, not just detailing where I went, but how I felt while I was there. Did I talk to anyone? Did I feel awkward? Was I filling silences just to avoid feeling self-conscious? Did people seem to notice me being alone, and if so, how did I interpret their reactions?
As I began writing, I realized these reflections felt a lot like journaling. And that’s when another thought came to me: What if people had a space to process their own experiences of going out alone? Could journaling about it help them feel more confident? Could it help them see their solo experiences differently? That’s where the idea for The Solo Pursuit Journal came from—a space for people to document, reflect on, and grow into their own comfort with being alone in public.
About the Creator
Kiyoka is the creator of The Solo Pursuit Journal, a space dedicated to embracing and documenting the joy of solo experiences. Unabashedly unmarried and child-free, Keokah has always been deeply comfortable in her own company, a skill shaped by her upbringing as a latchkey kid and being raised by her grandparents, where she often entertained herself. A Southerner by birth, she now calls Baltimore, Maryland home.
The Solo Pursuit Journal 