Why I've Always Felt Uneasy in Groups

And why I've come to believe that individualism is love (whether you enjoy group life or not)

Today, we’re featuring the wonderful work of contemporary painter Alice Rudolf. In addition to her art, Rudolf is also a psychotherapist — which won’t surprise you when you see her work. (A note to our male readers — all of Rudolf’s subjects happen to be female (or canine) — but the subject of today’s essay very much applies to us all.)

All my life, I’ve felt deeply, instinctively, unsafe in groups. I don’t mean groups like my family, who are my most beloved people on earth. I just mean group life in general.

For a long time, I wondered how this could be - especially since humans are famously social animals, evolved to live in tribes.

But the older I get, the more I suspect that this instinctive wariness has something to do with the strange way we now talk about individualism — as if it were something selfish or suspect.