In 2020, I moved away from my parents’ home and started living alone. During these three years, I learned to live alone, cook my own dinners, and fix the problems at home. Now my solo living is coming to an end – I moved to a new flat and started living with my girlfriend.
Flashback to the day before I started living alone, I talked to my girlfriend about my move. Since I didn’t have any experience living alone, except when I lived in the university dorm where almost no housework was required, I had to train myself by living alone before we could proceed with the next stage.
Living alone provides me an environment to stay calm and do my own work like reflection, playing games, reading books, and blogging. I spent three years finding the most efficient way to make my dishes without sacrificing the time going to the gym.
Although my girlfriend has been living with me during the weekends and staying longer in the past six months, it felt more like a staycation rather than living together. Living with a partner is very different from staycation. It requires compromise and adaptation. I don’t eat rice for dinner so I don’t own a rice cooker, but my girlfriend needs rice. She introduced her complex towel system for kitchen cleaning while I only used three towels previously. I want people to take off their shoes right at the entrance, but she doesn’t care much. It requires time and effort to adopt all of the above habits.
Being open-minded is essential when living together. In return, you will gain more than living alone. If everything goes well, you and your partner will learn more about each other. The relationship can become stronger. Your social life will become healthier as well.
A sofa with many Kirbys. How cosy it is!
I look forward to seeing how my girlfriend and I will change in the coming year. I hope to have a smooth transition when living with her and build a closer relationship.