My roommate has been gone for over a month now and isn’t coming back for a few more days. That is SOOO long! Despite being an introvert and prizing my alone time, I can’t wait for her to come back!

In the meantime, here are some tips I’ve picked up in the past month for thriving amidst solo living:

1. Have people over to motivate yourself to clean.

The first thing that happened upon my roommate’s departure was that my stuff went everywhere. My jacket went on the couch, my bags on the floor. And I had little motivation to clean anything. Then I hosted a dinner (I’m so proud of myself), and despite being sick at the time, I scrubbed down everything from the stove to the floor. I even cleaned the steps, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. (Man, did they need it.)

2. Talk out loud to yourself to externally process.

Just kidding, don’t actually do that. (At least only do it when you’re sure one else can hear you.) The better solution by far is to go make some new friends! Or meet up with current ones––think about which of your friends are good listeners, because you’re probably going to have a lot to say, having been by yourself for an unnaturally long period. In a pinch, talking out loud can be helpful sometimes.

3. Skype your brother who lives on the other side of the globe whenever you feel lonely.

That’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s worked out great. Except for the time when I caught him in the middle of a date dinner. He usually plays video games while we talk anyway, so if I run out of things to say, I can just listen to him button mash for a few minutes and feel like we are chilling together via technology. It’s great, because sometimes you don’t have anything particular to say, you just want to be with someone. And brothers are less likely to judge you for that than other people.

4. Buy a bike and start riding it.

Or pick up some other hobby. But bike riding is a great one because you can go really fast, feel the wind in your hair, and exercise all at the same time! Although if you live in Korea like me (or some other place with yellow dust/fine dust/whatever it is China is putting into the air), you should probably wear a face mask while riding. Otherwise you may come back having contracted asthma.

5. Cook yourself really delicious meals.

You will feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfy your stomach all at the same time. (You should probably do this all the time regardless of whether you’re living alone or not.)

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Hope you find these helpful! I should probably go, because I have a whole lot of cleaning to do before my roommate returns this weekend!

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