Through my years in college, I have lived with one roommate, multiple roommates, in the dorms with a roommate and a roommate that never came back to the dorm. At the moment, I currently live alone, and I believe this is a far better option than living with someone else.
One main reason that I love living by myself is that I can set my apartment up exactly how I want. If I want to nerd out and put posters in my office area, I can. If I want to have three shelves of comics in the living room, I can. If I suddenly go into a post-modern phase, I can do that, and if I get tired of it, I can go back to how my apartment originally was. I don’t change it that much due to living on a college budget, but if I want to, I can.
Also, I work multiple jobs to pay for my bills and attend graduate classes. Sometimes, I don’t get home till after 2 a.m. I never have to worry about annoying a roommate by turning a light on while they are dead asleep, a task that sometimes was met with yelling when I did have a roommate sleeping in the living room. When I can’t sleep, I sometimes want to clean the entire apartment at 3 a.m. I could do this, blare the music I want to listen to from my laptop, dance throughout the living room and won’t cause any sense of mental harm to a potential roommate.
Another love that I have with living alone is that I can avoid personality clashes during the stressful times when my classes and work overwhelm me. For the most part, I knew most of my roommates and I got along with them. But even the closest of friends can be a burden at times. We all are human and sadly part of human nature is that humans tend to argue over the pettiest of things, especially in stressful situations. I never have to worry about this. If I am frustrated with someone, I know that at the end of the day I can go home, pour a glass of wine if I have no studying that needs to be done and watch whatever T.V. show I am currently binge watching on Netflix.
Living alone is truly a blessing but I will say this, the one flaw in living alone is that if I need help or my car breaks down, I do not have someone that is in the same apartment as me that I can ask for a favor from. But, the positives of living alone far outweigh the negatives and even with a roommate, I still couldn’t completely have hope in them still lending a helping hand when I need it. So, if you have the financial means of living alone, do it. You will be better off and learn so much more about yourself. If you ever need company, just have a friend stay over for a night.
