When you live with your family, you are accustomed to sharing a bathroom with siblings and having those great battles over the TV remote. Hearing a mini lecture everyday is practically part of the routine. Don’t forget to clean your room! Do the dishes! Help take the trash out! Even living with college roommates has its own uphill battles. Who cleans the living room? Which roommate will finally do their bathroom duty? And you can’t ignore the noise level. Who has friends over? How many personalities do I have to decode in the meantime?
Learn to appreciate the silence
It can be overwhelming living with multiple people but you may not anticipate the silence that comes with living alone. For many, your 20’s may be the only time when you get to live by yourself and discover how it feels to be in total control of your own space. You are making all the decisions. You choose the apartment style you want. The furniture in the room is all yours. The boxes are stacked high and the plastic bags from all your purchases sit on the floor. You are excited, and then that initial silence hits as you finally settle into your apartment. That is the moment you realize: this is now my home and I’m living alone.
…but don’t become a hermit
The hardest part of the move can be adjusting to that sense of being alone, especially if you are acclimated to a bustling household. You have to learn to fill your time with hobbies or activities. For some people, its a matter of learning something new like taking an acting class, joining a local choir, or learning how to knit. For some, it may be as simple as reorganizing your closet or redesigning your apartment. I find it helpful to survey the area and see what kinds of opportunities are available in my new neighborhood. As always, volunteering is a great way to to fill up your time and connect with people. You know that your time is going towards something that will make you feel good and show that you made a difference.
If you have a full time job, it may be easier to live alone since most of your time will be spent in the work place. Regardless, its always useful to put some energy in something other than work. Use your time to get a gym membership or do a trial run of a workout class, like kickboxing or spinning. Try something new or do something that you love. There’s no use in sitting at home all day.
Finally, just enjoy living solo
While getting out is important, I do agree that it is refreshing to recharge your batteries every now and then. So, have that lazy day in your bed. Lounge around your apartment, get your snacks ready and queue up your Netflix. In my opinion, that is one of the best ways to enjoy living on your own. You’ll adjust to living solo eventually and learn to love it in every way. I can tell you now that for me moving out on my own was the best decision I have made so far.
