r/LivingAlone

Even family. My kids used to laugh at my jokes when they were younger. Friends used to want to hangout. Now it feels like life has passed me by and I have to jump up and get in people's faces just to remind them that I'm still here.

Friends, dead to me. Dating, forget about it. My kids, couldn't care less. I'm doomed to this haggard face, worn down body and ghost like meanderings where only reddit understands and coddles me.

Getting old sucks. I can't compete with youtube anymore.

Gratitude for owning a home alone, living alone and living in peace. Lets talk about it...

I'm an accident, I tried for a lifetime to earn my mom's love, I finally accepted the reality and went no contact with my whole family.

Nowadays I don't only live alone, but I'm also alone in life. Hopefully I won't need anybody until I die.

I’ve lived alone for a few years now and I’ve gotten pretty used to it. I think I actually like it.
Got home late from work tonight, changed into my comfy clothes, made myself a drink and had a Trader Joe’s mini chocolate cheesecake. After a shower I sat on the couch, grabbed my moleskine and wrote down a few things from today. Then I turned on the TV and put on The Intern. I haven’t watched it in a while. It’s all pretty simple. Sitting there with something to eat and watching a movie I picked just feels nice. No one asking what I want to watch. No need to work around someone else’s schedule. I can go to bed whenever I want or just sit there and do nothing. Before bed I’ve been turning on my pococo, putting on Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi and sitting there for a bit with the stars on the ceiling. I used to think living alone would feel lonely. Now I kind of like having my own space.
Work, food, movies, going out sometimes, then coming home. It’s a simple life, but I like it.

Curious if anyone here has left a LTR because they wanted to just live alone, and if so, tell me about your experience.

I feel like it is something that I need to experience in this life. And if I'm being honest, my relationship has been on the "ok" spectrum for awhile now.

When I'm home alone, I feel like me, I am at my fullest self. I like having someone around sometimes, it's nice to chat, but the obligations that come with a relationship, especially one where I have been placed in a parental role in the past, is draining me.

Hi, I (62 F) was widowed 3 months ago today. I'm new to living alone again, after many years. Almost everybody I know says how 'well' I'm doing. Mm🤔..they don't see me at nights alone, just me, my cat, & all my memories of my 'now previous'😢..married life with my husband, which I've been 'getting out of my system/grieving for', in private. We were together 22 years, literally to the week we met, when he died. Married for 9 years, & 2.5 months of that 22 yrs. He had developed melanoma cancer which spread quickly & aggressively to many parts of his body, & paralysed him. He became bed bound. I nursed/cared for him at home for the last 3.5 months, with help from palliative carers twice a day to help me do bed washes, turns, sheet changes, catheter care, etc, & he was under hospice home care, too. Now, it feels like I'm the only one who gives a damn about losing him. His adult sons have moved on..it feels to me, like they are just waiting in the wings for any money that may come their way one day🫩. So, I'm left living alone in our house that has become too big for just me. It's a 'huge' adjustment. It's lonely. This house we shared is so empty. It's been 'too' quiet most times. The tv is & has been my saviour. Sound. talking. People interacting. My cat is my best/closest friend & constant companion. She got me through these first few months of hell. I don't know how I would've done without her quiet support, her little warm body snuggling up against me, reassuring me with her purring, & encouraging me to get out of bed every day to feed & care for her. Without her, I'd be pretty lost. Or maybe worse. I see friends, I chat with family in other cities. I go out. I go to weekly grief counselling sessions. I visit my 91 y/old mother in her care home, as often as my energy levels allow. I've dealt with all the estate issues. I've slowly started de-cluttering & bagging some stuff to donate. I've had people over for dinner. There's really nothing for it but to carry on living my own life now, however that ends up looking like, going forward. I can't plan too far ahead. I have 'no' idea what my solo life will look like in future. I thought I'd still be married for at another 5 years at least. That's been ripped away from me (& most especially, my poor husband). Sorry for the sad story🥺. It's probably not the right forum to say this stuff, but it felt right to say it here, regardless, so thanks for reading this far.

Living alone may improve with time (I hope!). I have to persevere until things fall into place. Sigh😞.

I was sitting in my car outside my house for probably 15 minutes.Didn’t have anywhere to go. Just sitting there.I was scrolling, replying to stuff, checking random things, switching between apps and basically doing nothing.Then I put my phone down and realised I had been sitting there avoiding going inside because I knew the moment I walked in I’d have to start doing the next thing.Work. Dinner. Calls. Whatever.And for some reason that hit me harder than it should have.When did being alone with your own thoughts become something we actively avoid?I don’t even think I’m the only one doing this. Feels like everybody is tired but nobody really knows how to stop.

Currently in a Single Family Home in San Francisco with 2 roommates. I pay $1700 (with utilities) for a huge room. Has parking, laundry, dishwasher, ocean view from room. I share a bathroom but its not a problem. I am content here but would rather live alone.

I am almost 40. I make 120k a year. A friend is moving out of an apt and I can get in for $3000.

I take home about 6300 a month and have a good savings/investment account (200k). My car is paid off. The only thing I pay other than rent is car insurance and gym which is $160 a month.

I wanna live alone but not sure it is worth the extra $1300 a month / $15,600 a year.

The rental market in SF is super competitive right now and rents are high, this would be a way to get in to a place thats not too expensive (for SF standards)

The apartment is rent controlled, 3 min from work, on top floor, has a balcony with a decent view and has garage parking. Coin laundry in garage and also dishwasher. Not a big, modern or nice apartment, but not shabby at all. About 650 square feet.

Is it worth the price increase to move alone?

And what do I mean by that…?

Well, I got home from a long shift at work about an hour ago… got out of my work clothes.. got into something comfortable… made some coffee (I sometimes like drinking a cozy hot cup of coffee even if it’s at night), made myself some toast with it… enjoying my night, leading into my day off tomorrow (which is one of my favorite feelings to feel when enjoying the night before), as I watch a bit of YouTube on my TV…

…even though that doesn’t sound like anything special, it’s my little wind-down routine, and it makes me content.

As I’m drinking my coffee, and eating my toast (Pepperidge Farms Butter Bread w/Land’O Lakes butter 😌), watching something on YouTube… it just sort of hit me… all it takes is this kind of chillaxin’ to make me happy.

Then in my moment of feeling contentment, I was thinking of putting on an episode of STAR WARS: Ahsoka. The other day, I saw the Season 2 teaser trailer that Disney revealed recently, and it looks really good (I love Star Wars)…!

The fact that I can make these decisions without having to worry if someone else wants to watch whatever or not, is truly wonderful. The freedom of living life alone like this, is something I think truly suits me as a person. I always liked my alone time, but idk, recently, with some thought on my current life and what it consists of, I think I really prefer this than to be with someone. The single life just suits my desires much more than when I was with a woman.

That’s just me, though. My life is pretty basic, and I’m content with the simplicity of it. 😌

Just wanted to share.

Time for some Ahsoka now. 🌌

I’m 34f and about to move into the studio apartment, where I will to my great delight, be living alone for the third time in my life. It’s got its pros and cons but overall, I think it’s the right choice for me and my cats. I’m shopping for a mattress and thinking of just getting a full mattress because it’s big enough for me to stretch out and cuddle with my cats but a lot of people that I know are trying to encourage me to get a queen size mattress so that there will be room for my partner if and when I meet someone. At this point I’ve been single for more than four years and I’m not even dating. I just wanna get to bed that’s right for me whether that’s a full-size or a queen size. Not because of some hypothetical future partner that will apparently justify a bigger bed. I just don’t understand this logic. I’m not against meeting someone, but I also just don’t wanna plan my whole life around it. And I feel like a lot of my family members don’t really get that.

If I ever write my first book, I think it would be a novel about silence. The things people think, feel, and carry but rarely say out loud.

Maybe that's because, as an ageing, introverted man, I've learned that silence isn't always empty. Sometimes it's where the real story is.

I've been married once, have no kids, and have spent a good portion of my later years living on my own. I've learned the difference between being alone and being lonely. Being alone can be peaceful. You learn to enjoy your own company, your coffee, your music, your thoughts, and the luxury of not having to explain yourself every five minutes.

But loneliness is different. You can feel lonely in a crowded room.

Getting older also changes the way you see people. You notice the things they don't say. The hesitation in their voice, the smile that doesn't quite reach their eyes, the sudden change in their behavior. Sometimes you sense something is wrong before they ever admit it.

And sometimes you wish you hadn't noticed.

I've also learned that some of life's most important conversations never happen. The apology that never came. The “I love you” left unsaid. The “I'm sorry.” The “I miss you.” The “Please don't go.” Words swallowed by pride, fear, timing, or simply not knowing how to say them.

Maybe that's what growing older has taught me most, we spend far too much time assuming there will always be another opportunity to say what matters.

There isn't always one.

So if I ever write that book, it won't really be about silence. It will be about everything hiding underneath it, love, regret, loneliness, forgiveness, memories, and all the conversations we carry inside ourselves long after everyone else has gone quiet.

And maybe the final chapter would simply be an old man sitting alone with his coffee, finally understanding that some things don't need an audience.

Sometimes, you just need to tell yourself the truth.

I went grocery shopping last week and randomly thought about how often other solo livers may go to the grocery store.

Me personally, I go about once every 2 weeks. I don’t buy a huge haul when I go and I usually buy the same things everytime. I don’t do a lot of cooking either. How about yourself?

i really like living alone and don't think i'd want a roommate right now. at the same time, there are random moments when i miss having someone around to talk to or share something stupid with.

do people who have lived alone for a long time still get that feeling?