Whenever I tell people that I live on my own, nine times out of ten I receive a shocked expression followed by: “Don’t you get lonely?” “Why did you want to do that?” “You’re a student that’s weird “and I have to laugh to myself because living on my own is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me and I will tell you why.
I semi moved out of the family home of 17 years when I was 18 and moved to Liverpool to study. Like any fresher I ended up living in halls of residence which happened to be one of the worst nine months of my life, you can read about some of it HERE.
I absolutely hated living in a place that I had no control over, no control over how clean it was or how noisy/quiet it was. I had the same problem in my second year and by my third year I knew that enough was enough, I had to get a place on my own and that is exactly what I did.
Often, I will unlock my front door and almost want to cry with happiness that when I walk inside my flat, it’s quiet, clean and there’s nobody there. Just me, free to do whatever the hell I like. I love having friends over but I also love saying bye to them when I’ve had enough. I can hide away and I can have an open house, what matters to me is that the choice is mine. I used to be petrified when I flat shared and the door would open for an army of drunk people to walk in screaming and shouting at all hours in the night, I hated being scared to go out of my room to the toilet because of strangers that my flat ‘mates’ had invited in running around the flat and trying to get into my room to play a prank on me.
As an only child I believe that I’m programmed to enjoy my own company a lot more than most, I find it easy to entertain myself and I don’t yearn for the company of others, I never ever get lonely whilst living on my own, loneliness was something that when I lived with others I suffered from chronically. Living on my own is the best thing that has ever happened to me and when people ask me why I take them back to a night when the psychopathic lad I lived with in first year tried to strangle our flatmate in the middle of the night
My grandma used to say "if you're not fit company for yourself, you're not going to be fit company for any buggar else" lol & she's right, I like being on my own too sometimes & Simon does too, when I 1st lived alone I thought I'd hate it but I loved it 🙂 fab post as always darling xxxx
Thankyou Zoe, going to take that quote and remember it 🙂 <3 you xxx
I can see where you're coming from Hollie! I've never lived on my own, or in halls either as I stayed at home for uni then didn't move out of my parents' house til I moved in with my fiance (now husband). However, a friend of mine had terrible problems in 1st year to the point where it was really affecting her work, which just wasn't fair. She was so reluctant to complain as well so I actually ended up going with her to speak to someone about it for moral support. She had a terrible year before moving in with her boyfriend in 2nd year. I don't think I could have coped with halls at all. I think sometimes it's nice to have some time to yourself anyway. As much as I love my husband, I do secretly enjoy it when he works a late shift so I get a few hours to myself lol x
Thankyou for such a lovely response Emma 🙂 xx
I feel a bit like this. Next year I'm moving in with only one other girl which will be so much more chilled out. Living with so many people can be so frustrating and I can't deal with having to act like a parent cleaning the house for others – plus bills and stuff are a pain to sort!! haha xx