Up until a few months ago, I have always lived with at least one other person. Growing up, I lived with my family, then when coming to college, I lived two years in the dorms with at least three other roommates. The point of the matter is: I’ve always had a roommate. Due to an unusual circumstance, I ended up living by myself. At first I was worried; I’ve always had at least one person to talk to at home, and I wasn’t sure how I’d be not having that person. I’m a fairly extroverted person and enjoy talking with others and having lots of socialization.
Growing up, my family primarily did their own thing. We’d usually go to our rooms for a few hours, but inevitably we’d end up leaving the room to knock on others' doors and talk with each other. After a few hours of just "me-time", I’d want to go and talk with someone. If I saw something funny on the internet or had a thought or idea about something, I’d usually go and share it either with my brother or my mom. When I came to college, the same logic applied to my roommates. Whenever I found a “dank meme”, I was accustomed to sharing it with my roommates to get a laugh out of them. Or if I found some gossip on social media, I’d be compelled to share it as well. I was very fond of gossip-sessions and general bonding with roommates.
However, now I live alone. It’s created an infinite amount of "me-time", which I enjoy but also disdain. It’s a love-hate relationship. I’ve since realized that although I enjoy social settings and do consider myself extroverted, I also have introverted qualities as well. I like browsing the internet, watching TV, and exploring hobbies in solitude. For the most part, I really do enjoy my solitude. If you’re thinking about living alone, here are some of the things that I’ve learned, the good and the bad.
Pro: You can do literally whatever you want at any time
While living alone, it’s perfectly acceptable to watch TV loudly at any time of the day or night. If you just don’t want to wear pants, you don’t have to. If you play an instrument, you can blast away at 3 a.m. if you want to. Really, the sky is the limit.
You also don’t have to worry about being respectable to your roommate if they’re trying to sleep or alter any habit or thing you want to do at any time. You can be as clean or dirty as you want to be.
Con: You’re responsible for everything
While living by yourself, you need to be on top of things. You can’t forget about a bill anymore expecting your roommate to remind you when it’s due. It’s all on you. If you forget your electricity bill, no one’s going to remind you (except the power company when your lights get shut off.)
It’s easy to not notice a mess and then suddenly remember you haven’t done laundry, dishes, or picked up after yourself when you have a guest come over. This can lead to embarrassment in the end.
Pro: You learn responsibility
Living on your own presents you with a lot of responsibility that you need to uphold. This is a good thing because learning this early in life saves you from having to learn it later. Managing a household by yourself is a job in itself. You need to be tidy, pay the bills, and take care of pets if you have any.
For example, I have a dog and I need to make sure that I go out and buy food for him when it runs out. I have to make sure that he’s walked regularly throughout the day so that he can relieve himself. Having a dog is hard work in general, and taking care of one by yourself is even harder. But you must provide for your pet.
Con: You have to manage everything by yourself
Another con is that you’re not dividing up the responsibility to maintain a household. Traditionally, I’ve always had an alternating schedule with roommates in the past determining who will pick up toilet paper, paper towels, or trash bags. When you live by yourself, you need to remember to get all these things done or you’ll find yourself awkwardly substituting one thing for the other thing that you’re lacking. For example, using toilet paper as a napkin when you eat dinner. Been there, done that, it happens. It’s not too bad when it’s just you, but when you have to explain to your guests who are over eating at your place that they need to wipe their mouths with toilet paper, it becomes a little awkward.
Pro: You can have people over at any time, day or night
If you are social, then you probably have people over often. Filling your house with friends is a good way to not feel lonely. For me, several times a week I’ll have someone over to hang out with. While living alone, you can pretty much do whatever you want. You can be loud without worrying about bothering your roommate. Also while living alone, you pretty much have no one else to please but yourself.
Con: Living alone can be lonely
The worst part of living alone is the loneliness. It goes without saying that every time you come home, you’ll come home to an empty household. This was at first daunting to me, because I was always used to coming home to people. Now when I open my front door, I come home to a dark house that hasn’t had any activity in it since I last left it. Some days, you’ll feel down about this. When you have an idea or “dank meme” to share, you won’t have anyone to share it with. This is perhaps the worst con on the list because it is something that I struggle with.
A tip that I can give to those seeking to live alone is to really become comfortable with yourself. When you live alone, you have no one but yourself to deal with, which can be nice but also awful. You’ll have to deal with your habits and no one will pick up after you. I feel like becoming comfortable with yourself is most important. However, it’s easy to become house-locked and not interact with anyone. You’ll really need to learn how to force yourself to become more social if you’re not so that you can get that interaction.
But overall, I would recommend living alone. I’ve gained a lot of responsibility by doing so. I’ve gotten to reevaluate myself and to really get to know myself. I love living alone more that I thought I would. I like having that "me-time", even if it feels too infinite sometimes. I would say that I’m an extremely independent person that enjoys my downtime pursing hobbies and interests, and living alone definitely allows your household to become a sanctuary for that.
