Is Living Alone the New Shacking Up?

[marmar]

Is Living Alone the New Shacking Up?

The Atlantic Wire
By Jen Doll | The Atlantic Wire – 1 hr 53 mins ago


Living alone. Once, perhaps, it was a designation that you were an old maid, destined to someday die alone and be devoured by your cat, if you were lucky. But what if that single life could be forever sustained? The stereotypes of the spinster cat lady or the hopeless, hapless bachelor, subsisting on TV dinners and bad Chinese takeout, comforting yourself with the warmth of the occasional lady friend, or the television-cum-laptop, are only based on the occasional extreme: Certainly, in years prior to now, singles have existed happily and successfully on their own. Some more so than the coupled among us.

Moving out of your parents' house or a college dorm shared with assigned roommates and into an apartment with friends is one rite of passage into adulthood. The next, chronologically speaking, would be finding the funds and the wherewithal to live by yourself -- an ultimate luxury, if you can manage it, in these crowded spaces. And after that, at least historically, would come pairing up again, moving in with a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, partner...and eventually, should you see fit, adding new members to your living space.

Thus, you chart the course from child to adulthood with those single and alone years a bookmark of freedom, a time you had to take care of you and only you, a time you could eat Doritos on the couch all night and perhaps even fall asleep with them next to you, only wash the dishes when you disgusted yourself, stay out all night and never be nagged about it the next day. A time of ultimate, temporary freedom, to be looked back upon with a sense of having sowed wild oats, or at the very least, a resigned but satisfied "that was then -- this is now." ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/living-alone-shacking-163017480.html

[unionworks]

1. Sounds like paradise

....to this 54 year old bachelor.

[monmouth]

2. I love, love, living alone, and my independence, I worked a lifetime to get here...n/t

learned to type and spell..

[marmar]

4. Agreed. Single, solo & loving it.

nt

[applegrove]

21. Yes. I love my independance.

[TlalocW]

3. I've always lived alone after high school with 3 exceptions

In college, my scholarship allowed me free room and board with a roommate, but if I paid $100 a year, I could get a single room, which is what I did. Lived in apartments by myself after that. I bought a house that I lived in until recently and have had 3 temporary roommates - a friend from grad school who rented a room from me until he found something he liked, a niece who lived with me for a while, and an old girlfriend, completely platonic friend from undergrad who lived with me for a couple of months. I've since changed cities and am in another apartment. In all this time, I've had a few girlfriends who would stay overnight but never moved in. I'm going to be 40 this year, and I honestly don't know if I would be able to change (not that I have many opportunities to do so).

TlalocW

[safeinOhio]

5. I prefer to live alone

and think I'm miserable, than live with someone and know I'm miserable.

[Confusious]

7. Being with someone you don't care about

in the "love" sense, is worse then being alone. At least you can do what you like.

I can always be happy alone. Not always with someone.

[Confusious]

6. I've spend more Valentine's alone

Then I have with someone.

I also tend to pick crazy women, so no big loss.

A little lovin' now and again isn't bad though.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. I'm living alone for the first time in my life and I'm terrified.

Because I have not 1, but 2 cats. They'll have a feast devouring my beautiful remains.

[Confusious]

16. You know,

Every time they lick their chops, they're thinking of you.

Haha

[hfojvt]

9. personally I think it sucks

I don't do it by choice.

In fact, I do not do it at all - I have three dogs.

Before I got my dog in 1996, I thought more about suicide.

[Dawson Leery]

10. k/r

[Brickbat]

11. I loved living on my own and I think more people should try it. To this day, I miss it.

It amazes me, how many of my friends didn't between graduating from college and getting married. I couldn't wait to get a place for myself.

[zorahopkins]

12. It's Called "CHOICE"

Many of us prefer to live alone.

We like who we are, and we are completely comfortable with ourselves.

We choose to live alone.

[dana_b]

15. true! and for some of us, it isn't a choice but a situation

that we find ourselves in. I hope someday that I am more comfortable with it.

[Demonaut]

13. searching for a camera/recording device right now...Get out of my Head!!

[shanti]

14. living alone

is certainly not for everyone. some people are deathly afraid of living alone....but not i. i'm basically a loner who has never lived alone until finally becoming an empty nester two years ago. i really love it, and it has its lonely moments, but this cat lady is doing ok

[provis99]

17. Living alone sucks.

I `d be happier as an Ottoman Sultan with a huge harem.

[Louisiana1976]

18. I enjoy living alone with my cat. K&R

[ErikJ]

19. I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.
-Albert Einstein

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Most of my adult life, I have chose to live alone......

with cats. Doing dishes only when I disgust myself----or maybe a few days after that. I love it. It is so peaceful, and if I want company, there are always places to go and things to do. There is never drama here, no fights (well, unless I have to pill the cat). I know this is not for everyone, and some people are afraid or lonely. I am just glad that I can do it.

And you can call me an old maid if you want to....I am past caring about that horrid title.

[treestar]

22. I loved it and was never unhappy about it

I don't even understand people who don't like it. Could not stand roommates in college. I mean I liked the people, I just hated having someone who could always come into that space and do annoying things.

[L0oniX]

23. Solitude can be a blessing.

[HeiressofBickworth]

24. I've lived alone only once and that was

for only a couple of years. Parents/siblings until my marriage at 19 (too damned young). By the time that marriage ended, I had a small child. I married again and divorced again. THEN, when the child moved out on her own, I was on my own for a couple of years. It was lovely. The house was always clean, nothing out of place, the dishes always done and put away. People could drop by without notice. I could have some "me" time when I wanted or I could have company -- my choice!! Then my bat-shit crazy mother came to live with me for 8 years, years I'd rather forget. Once I moved out of that, my daughter's husband wanted to get his degree. I had no money to help them so I said they could live with me. That was about 13 years ago. I don't mind having them around, but I have to confess that there are some days I just stand in the middle of the room (any room) thinking of all I would get rid of if I lived alone again. Unfortunately, that choice is no longer available. My retirement is possible because I paid off the house many years ago and the kids and I share the other expenses. I don't have enough to go anywhere else. Neither do they. So here we are.