Flying Solo

There is no doubting that society is largely geared towards couples and families. Unfortunately, living alone often comes with a stigma attached to it. People could be living by themselves for many reasons. Divorce, separation or a partners death, are often the cause behind the rising statistics of the single person household, but for some in these modern times, it's purely a case of it being a preferred lifestyle choice.

For The Unconventional Among Us


Believe it or not there are people in this world who actually prefer to live alone. We are consideredunconventional, going about our daily lives happy in the fact that we can live in a self-contained environment and not have to answer to anyone. If you type in unconventional and check for some synonyms you come up with a very interesting list indeed...

bizarre, crazy, eccentric, far-out, freakish, freaky, free and easy, idiosyncratic, individual, individualistic, informal, irregular, kinky, kooky, nonconformist, oddball, off the beaten track, off the wall, offbeat, original, out in left field, out of the ordinary, unceremonious, unique, unorthodox, unusual, way-out,weirdo

These are just some of my favorites, there are many more where these come from. It is also a little bemusing and ironic that the wordindividualcomes up in the InfoBarrel spell checker as a complex expression that should be omitted. So in my kooky, kinky, way outweirdokind of way, I solemnly do declare that I like living alone, although from time to time it does have its disadvantages.

The Not So Good

After a long hard day at work you still have to go home and do everything yourself. There is no one with whom you can share all the regular household chores. Arriving home on a day when the dogs food needs cooking, the house needs cleaning, the washing needs doing, the bills have to be paid and you've still got to cook your dinner and walk the dog, can make you want to be less.... whats the word? oh yes, "oddball " and conform a little.

Shopping for a one person household is not an easy task. The amount of fresh food you can buy is limited, other wise you will end up with a smelly apartment and a fridge that upon opening, resembles a high school science experiment. This in turn leads to another bad habit of many live aloners, we tend to eat on the go. If you haven't got the time to shop daily for fresh food or you don't want to eat the same thing you cooked for 3 days running, unfortunately there's a reliable but not so healthy alternative... eating out!

One other thing that's not so great is if you've had a particularly hard day, you may just want someone to vent with or someone to comfort you and understand. When it comes to such matters as these, coming home to a house void of people can be a lonely experience, however, there are ways to tackle the more complicated issues such as loneliness

Learning to live with yourself is a valuable experience that everyone could benefit from. If you can learn to just be with yourself and become less dependent on having others for reassurance, then you will find that you will have acquired a very empowering and beneficial life skill that can lead to much internal happiness.

Cooking For One


The Pleasures of Cooking for One
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(price as of May 3, 2013) One of the hardest things about living alone is cooking for one. Here you can find some wonderful ideas about what and how to cook for the single houshold.

Ahh The Freedom


As the title of this article suggests, the benefits of living alone are undeniably good . When you are not at work, your life is your own. Upon arriving home, you can walk through your front door, shut it behind you and indulge in a movie, chocolate, your personal choice of beverage and know there is no one around to bother you. You have no one to answer to and can do anything you like in your own little domain. If you want to listen to music, watch t.v, write on your computer, talk to yourself, crazily dance around the room naked, maybe even all at once...you can. It is most likely that you will not be bothering anyone, with the exception of close neighbours with thin walls or your dog, who may happen to cast you some strange and enquiring looks in regards to your behaviour. When you come home you are surrounded by peace, space and solitude. If you are in a job where you spend much of your day talking and listening, this can be absolute bliss. You can make your home entirely your zone, it can be completely your style, and you can make it comfortable and exactly how you want it to be. It is truly liberating to be your own person.

To Maintain A Little Sanity


There is no written rule that says living alone equals being lonely. It does not restrict you from having relationships, friends and a busy work and social schedule, but maybe you like to spend time alone. If you are the type of person who enjoys hanging out in your house or apartment, having a companion in the form of a pet can be an absolute god send. In my long documented life of living"out in left field", I've had many trusty sidekicks including talking budgerigars, cats, dogs, fish and I have even befriended a couple of spiders. Currently, it's my dog, but whatever your pet, they often become the sole listener when you arrive home from long tiring days. They know all the details of your day and all your most intimate secrets. They've seen you walking around naked and don't care whether you fart and burp (another advantage to living alone). They are there for you all day and night, anytime you are down, they will listen, anytime your excited and happy, they will join in and be excited and happy along side of you(ok, maybe not the fish and spiders). So it's not unusual that such strong bonds formbetween people living alone and there pets. More often than not they have each others sole attention.

Living Alone Doesn't Neccessarily Equate To Being Alone

Different countries and cultureshave different opinions about people who prefer to live on their own. Currently I live in China where it is extremely irregular for a person to take a path of solitude. Much pressure is applied to young people here to get married and have a child, however, in my home country of Australia, it is the polar opposite. Australia seems to have participated in a lot of research and provides resources about the prominent rise of single households. These days people can be in LAT (living- apart- together) relationships - yes these relationships even have a name. As the statistics show that the numbers of single households continue to rise, this kind of relationship nowadays tends to have less stigma attached to it than it has done in the past.

Even if you're not partaking in one of the many different forms of relationships that are around these days, there is nothing wrong with enjoying your own company, freedom and single identity. You can rest assured that even if you are alone within your house, you are not alone within society. You join a huge united group of idiosyncratic, non conformist oddballs, but I prefer to use these words, original and unique individuals who don't feel the need to conform to societies expectations of what they think everybody should be like.