10 Things I Love About Living Alone
A loner living alone is a bliss
Since I moved to England, five years ago, that I live alone. In Portugal, I lived with my partner and my son and I loved it. But my life suddenly changed and with it, my personal circumstances.
In the beginning, it was hard to adjust to an empty house, only filled with my things, but after I adjusted, I fell in love with living by myself.
I can’t say I don't miss some things of a shared life, of course, I do, but for a loner like me, living by myself has been a bliss.
One day my status might change, but for now, I live alone and I LOVE IT. Here’s why:
1. My plans are exclusively mine
I can do whatever I want, at the times I choose. Then I can change my mind, cancel the plans, or move them to a different date.
My time is exclusively mine.
2. Not cooking if I’m not in the mood
When you share your life, you tend to have meals times and one of you being the cook.
I like cooking, but doing it every-single-day is not for me. I like not to feel guilty about skipping a meal, having cereals, a pizza or a fruit smoothie for dinner.
3. I have all the house for myself
I’m not a minimalist but I live basically with the essential. I indulge myself with some objects or decorations I don’t need but I like to have, but apart from that, my house has lots of open space.
I like to have my visual span “clean”; cluttered spaces affects my mood and sense of belonging.
Living alone, I don’t struggle with space nor I need more furniture to store clothes. Also, I don’t argue about what should be in a space, if we should get another chest of drawers or a filing cabinet. I have space!
4. I’m the queen of the remote control
Negotiations around tv shows or movies to watch on Netflix are inexistent. My remote, my agenda.
5. My mess, my cleaning
This might be is one of the best parts of living alone: unless my dog decides to move a cushion around, when I get home my flat is exactly how I left it.
Either it’s all tidy up or has my (small) mess all around. If that’s the case, there will be no one to tell me off about it. Or the opposite: me telling them off about the mess.
Honestly, I love the sensation and getting home and things are exactly as I left them.
6. Silence
[Suffering from Tinnitus, silence is nonexistent in my life, but I’ll stick to the term]
I’m sensitive to noise, always have been. It got worse with Tinnitus, but even before, I always loved the feeling of being in control of my surroundings.
Other’s music, someone cooking with pots and pans, or talking on the phone can kill my mood. It’s even more annoying if I’m writing or reading.
By living alone, I can have reading marathons or writing sessions without interruptions or backgrounds noises. Or I can chill on the sofa binge-watching, take a nap…
My home, my kingdom.
7. The food doesn’t vanish
This is my second favourite thing about living alone. Is there anything more annoying than coming home from work, open the freezer to have the ice cream you’ve been craving all afternoon to find it’s gone?
Now, I always know what’s in my fridge and if I need to buy more wine or cookies or fruit. Nothing suddenly vanish from my kitchen anymore.
8. The toilet seat is always down
Yes, this is a thing for me. A big one, actually. Better said: it was a thing. Since five years now, I don’t have that fight anymore.
9. The bathroom is always free to use
No more waiting for my turn to use the toilet! And I can leave the door open, I have all the privacy around the flat.
10. The decor is exclusively my responsibility
No cluttering, no negotiations about space or furniture, or whatever that kills my space energy. My kitchen china is all white, my mugs are OCD arranged to the right side; my bathroom is decorated in black tones and my room in light brown. And I didn’t have to consider no one’s opinion!
As I said before, there is an immensity of vantages of living with someone (you love). But there’s also the fascinating world and freedom of living alone.
The last five years I’ve created routines and habits that makes hard imagining sharing MY space with someone. It won’t be impossible but it will be hard to go back to sharing.
I really love MY space and independence.
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