Every living situation comes with pluses and minuses. For some, the benefit of having easier access to a peaceful, clean, quiet, or tidy environment when living alone far outweighs any negatives.
Many vacation rental apps recognize this and offer the option to limit your search to only places that you can have entirely to yourself. The top drug rehab centers in Massachusetts accommodate these needs by offering quiet time, alone time, and private rooms.
Whether you’re living alone by choice or by necessity, the following tips can make the overall experience more enjoyable.
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1. Make socializing a priority.
Living alone doesn’t have to mean that your opportunities to socialize are limited. It can even improve the quality of your social interactions by allowing you to engage more with people whose company you enjoy, rather than being forced to talk with roommates or a partner you might not get along with.
Although research shows that socializing is important for our well-being, studies also show that emotional stress can harm our health. Women whose socializing is strained in general are at a higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from cardiovascular disease, a 2021 Journal of the American Heart Association study found.
You don’t even have to leave your house to socialize if you don’t want to. Talking on the phone or via Skype with friends and family is an excellent option for high-quality human connection.
2. Take time to reflect.
One thing you won’t have when living alone is housemates who serve as a reflection of your mindset and behaviors. Nothing provides feedback faster than a hungry roommate who just found out you ate their leftovers.
Without other people regularly around to point out our possible shortcomings, it falls much more on our own shoulders to remain mindful so that we don’t slip into bad habits. If you prefer to be alone, just because you’re living alone and in a peaceful environment doesn’t mean that you’re peaceful, after all. A mindfulness practice can help us be more aware of our mental state from moment to moment.
Yoga, meditation, breathwork, and prayer are good options for growing in mindfulness. It’s best to work with a teacher when taking up some of these practices, but there are many highly-rated apps and YouTube channels that provide instruction as well.
3. Practice gratitude.
In the past, people lived alone for basically two reasons. Either they were incredibly rich and wanted to, or all their family members had died and they were left alone.
In the U.S. over the past 50 years, the number of people living alone has nearly doubled. It’s a modern concept that almost anybody who wants to live alone has at least a shot at it. If you’ve chosen and are able to live on your own, this is something to be grateful for, especially if you ever experience days when flying solo feels lonely or overwhelming (nobody else is going to do those dishes!).
Practicing gratitude is known to have positive mental and even physical health benefits. However, a team of researchers recently noted that many of these studies had involved people who were already generally healthy, so the researchers conducted a similar gratitude study on people in therapy for mental health issues. The results? A short gratitude practice had the same benefits as it did for well-adjusted adults, and tended to increase the benefits obtained from therapy.
4. Turn gratitude into action.
Living alone is a trend that’s happening in richer countries around the world. In America, there are fewer people per household, yet the average house size is growing. This can lead to environmental concerns since more land and other resources are used to build bigger houses, not to mention the resources required to run those households.
Going tiny is one solution. If it’s not an option, there are other things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. For instance, about 75 percent of a home’s carbon footprint comes from electricity use. Consider better insulation and more efficient heating and cooling systems. Other things you can do include turning off all appliances and lights when not using them and taking cooler and shorter showers.
Final Thoughts
Living alone isn’t the right choice for everyone, but for others, it’s the only way to live. Take care not to isolate yourself by checking in with loved ones on the regular, be mindful of your attitude and how you’re treating yourself and others, and show gratitude for your solo adventure to make living alone a special time in your life, for however long it lasts.
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