When I talk to most of the people I know about the fact that I lived on my own in the middle of nowhere for two years before I moved back to civilization, they say that they would never do it. Most people seem to prefer to have a roommate or significant other around, even if they drive them bloody bonkers. I see their point, and I definitely spent the first few days (okay, months) severely missing my roommates, but I do think it was essential to my mental wellbeing to live on my own for awhile. It cuts off all the noise and influence of other people in your life and confronts you with only yourself. And eventually, you get to know the best and ugliest parts of yourself, when before you were so worried about your roommate’s moldy dishes and apparent allergy to pants that you never stopped to figure yourself out. There are definitely some downsides too (your own moldy dishes and allergy to pants, for instance), which is why I have provided my pros and cons of living alone below:

PROS

1. You can do basically WHATEVER YOU WANT. You can build as many blanket forts as you want, talk to the tv as much as you want, talk to yourself as much as you want, wear whatever the hell you want (including nothing), nobody yells at you for dropping things wherever the hell you want as soon as you become disinterested in them.
2. Likewise, nobody yells at you when your carpet basically consists of a fine layer of dirty clothes, half-read books, broken hangers, candy wrappers, and 13 shoes that don’t match each other, until you can’t even remember the original color of the carpet anymore.
3. You set your own bedtime. Nobody questions this. Nobody bangs their fist on the wall you share for being awake and watching New Girl at 3 am. Also, nobody judges you for passing out like a grandma who just walked a mile back from the grocery store at 6 pm.
4. You get allll the fridge and cupboard space. Which doesn’t matter. Because the only thing in the fridge is a carton with one egg in it, a half-eaten container of cottage cheese, 3 different kinds of milk (only one of them dairy), and like 6 kinds of bbq sauce. Oh and that eggplant you just remembered you bought and stuck in the veggie drawer, which you never open. Yeah, that’s probably really gross by now.
5. You don’t have to coordinate shower times. You get all the hot water to yourself. Though, you don’t get to split the water bill. So you still have to train yourself to take short showers.
6. You get to decorate your apartment any way you want. It’s entirely your own space. There can be pictures of yourself covering every inch of available wall space. I mean, if you wanted. Save room for that giant Lord of the Rings poster you’ve been waiting to hang up since freshman year, but haven’t for fear of judgment. There is no more judgment. This is a safe space. Fine, it’s a Taylor Swift poster. But she’s riding a horse.

CONS

1. You have to do all of your Target runs and grocery shopping by yourself. And since you don’t have enough motivation to force yourself out of the house, you’re stuck eating that dented can of black beans and the last, driest piece of your loaf of bread.
2. You’re responsible for garbage, dishes, payments, cleanliness, that disgusting spot behind the toilet, everything. Nobody is going to pick up after you, do the dishes when they’re sick of using an empty pizza box as a plate, or pay your rent until you have the money to pay them back because you spent your whole paycheck at DSW.
3. When you’re bored, it’s up to you to get out and find something to do. You may have the best intentions of going somewhere local and meeting your new neighbors, but at best, you’ll probably make it to the end of the street before turning around and settling for a heated blanket and a cable screening of the Parent Trap remake (just kidding, you live alone, you can’t afford cable!).
4. Nobody else is going to kill that spider. You can scream and point and cower in the corner all you want, but it’s up to you.
5. You’re never going to come home to the scent of take out and be offered a slice of pizza or some cream cheese wontons because your roommate couldn’t possibly eat any more. You’re going to have to forget about free food entirely.
6. Your wall art will always be crooked.
7. There’s no chance any of the noises you hear in the middle of the night are your roommate. So you spend most nights wide awake with all the lights on and your Viking battle axe you got at the Renaissance Fair tucked behind your pillow.