Why is staying alone important
“Be courageous. Be independent. Only remember, where the true courage and independence comes from” — Phillips Brooks
Traditionally, we have been brought up with a notion of staying with parents, or families. The concept of joint families is quite common in our country; and it goes without saying — the benefits of joint families are immense. There are friends like family, family like friends, multiple personalities to learn from, talk to.
However, at some stage in life, we should all experience living independently, and alone. In my opinion, this is quite important, as we get to learn immense life lessons and hacks, some of which I will discuss below
Financial Independence — Living alone is quite important for us, as individuals, to realize what financial independence is, and what the value of money is. Only when we start making our ends meet, do we understand the true value of money. Paying rents, EMIs, education loan, purchasing groceries, electricity and phone bills. Things, that we as kids, take for granted. This is what we learn to do, and appreciate
Friends for life — As I pointed out, staying with family, gives us a set of friends for life. However, staying alone also does the same thing; the only difference is, these friends are not related to you by blood, and have a different upbringing than yours. And this, my friend, helps us build a wider life perspective, develop a sense of space, adjustment and co-existence. Imagine that you are a stickler for cleanliness, and have an OCD to put dishes properly. However, your flat mate, or friend
Ownership and responsibility — By staying at home, we take the luxuries and leisure of home as granted, without realizing the effort that goes behind the scene to make a home what a home is. Managing help, maintaining cleanliness, food in the fridge, fuel in the vehicle. One might think that all these are very basic. But, think about it. Right now, it’s granted. Now, add planning for groceries daily to your list of tasks, cleaning the house, making the bed, food and so on. Staying alone teaches us the importance of these things
Self realization of who we are — Our living conditions, are a reflection of who we are. When we stay alone, we get to build our own image and character, our own personality, through the paintings at home, through the décor of the home, through the way we organize our cupboard, or the frequency at which we wash our clothes. Slowly, but surely, we learn a lot about ourselves, and it helps us with developing who we truly are!
I highly recommend all of us should do it for atleast 4–5 years before our 30s, so that we learn and appreciate who we truly are as a person. Be it in college, or post college, during a job, or after marriage. Whenever. But just, go out there, and live independently, to appreciate yourself, the adversities, the joy and yourself in the glory of joy or adversity!
