8 Lessons of Life You Learn When You Start Living Alone
5. Discipline and self-control are very important
Once you start living alone, that’s a sign that you have grown up and are capable enough of taking care of yourself. That also means that you need to stop taking money from home now and become independent and self-reliant. So discipline and self-control are vital in making sure that you do not spend more than you should, and are not splurging every now and then. Who is paying your next month’s rent? Do you have enough money saved for emergencies? Do your own math, and do you own self-checks to ensure that you have something to bank on during rainy days.
6. Your groceries won’t refill on their own
As a child, it was easy to tell your Mom that you just consumed the last packet of biscuits kept in the kitchen cabinet, and new packets would come in by the evening or the next day. But when you start living alone, you actually need to do all your grocery shopping on your own. Things won’t refill themselves, and stores won’t deliver things unless you ask them to. So you will be making more grocery lists than ever before, and will find yourself getting more and more organized each month in order to save multiple trips to the store. You will automatically remember to check on the status of supplies in the house regularly, and will get the refills on a timely basis. Also, when you forget to do that in time, the regret will pinch you a lot!
7. Cleanliness is sheer non-laziness!
We have all learnt that cleanliness is next to godliness, but unfortunately, God won’t come down to your house to do it for you! You have no choice but to stop being lazy and clean your house on your own. From dusting to cleaning windowpanes to scrubbing the toilets to sanitizing the floors and the kitchen surfaces, everything is ‘your’ responsibility, whether you like it or not. Somebody else won’t do it for you, and if you keep postponing it to a later date, then you will find yourself regretting a lot when unexpected guests turn up, or when the pile of utensils to wash seems never-ending. Hence, do a bit of it everyday to avoid piling up everything for later.
8. You need to be your own soulmate!
You need to know and understand what exactly is going on in your head. Unless you are decisive about what you want, you can’t live comfortably on your own. You can’t be undecided about what to cook, or what channel to watch on the TV, or what time to sleep. These are things you need to have answers to. And the only way you will get those answers is by connecting with your inner-self. The more you connect, the more you talk to yourself, the more comfort and peace you will find in living alone. Making a routine for yourself is in your hands, and taking care of your entertainment needs is also in your hands. So, be best friends with yourself to be able to know what you exactly want, and then do things accordingly, rather than cribbing about how life turned out to be this way that you have to live alone.
What you learn during your time living alone is something that always comes in useful in your life. If nothing, it makes you more self-sustainable and independent. You automatically mature in a lot of ways and start to appreciate small little things of life more, which you earlier used to take for granted. It’s like an essential part of growing up that everyone must experience at least once in their life.
