5 Ways to Embrace Living Alone by: Timothy J. Legg, Ph.D., CRNP — Written by Crystal Raypole on June

1 Get to know yourself better

Living alone can help you find the time to work on your most important relationship — the one you have with yourself.

Until you live alone for the first time, it’s pretty common to spend most of your time in the company of others. When you focus on maintaining strong connections with friends, family, and romantic partners, though, your relationship with yourself might take a backseat.

2. Strengthen your relationships

Along with soul searching, living alone gives you the chance to examine your relationships and note the ones that don’t do much for your well-being.

3. Identify when you feel most lonely

No matter how much you enjoy living alone, you may feel lonely from time to time. These feelings might come up around the times of day you associate with seeing people.

If you and your previous roommates usually all returned from work at the same time, coming home to an empty house might be rough.

And if you’ve just left a relationship? It’s absolutely normal to miss that intimacy of snuggling up next to your partner (but it’s also totally normal to love having the bed to yourself now).

4. Consider a pet

Always longed for a furry companion? Now’s your chance, since you no longer need to worry about a roommate’s allergies or a sibling’s fear of dogs.

5. Connect with your community

Loneliness doesn’t always strike where you might imagine it would.

According to 2016 researchTrusted Source, people who live alone often spend more time with friends or in their community than married people do, and many people in unhappy marriages report feelings of loneliness, despite not living alone.

Yes, this means that living alone might actually result in you feeling less lonely than those who aren’t.

The key is exploring new ways to connect in your community.