Do you live alone?

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Just something I am dwelling on today.
I lived alone for a short period when in my 20s. I quite liked it - it was a novelty to be able to do as I like. I worked full time and at weekends spent time with friends or would go and stay with my parents.

For the last few years I have been living alone with dd. So not completely alone but dd is still little. So I spend all my evenings alone and on weekends it's often just me and dd. Sometimes it's just me. That's not how I planned my life at all.

I can't say I am completely happy with my life. In fact I am considering making some huge changes to my life so that I can either live with my parents or live closer to them (they are very far away now) because work, a couple of friends and dd notwithstanding, I feel like I am slowly turning into a batty old lady (and I am not old yet!).

Is is just me or is it hard going?

It's been just me and my two DDs (now 3 and nearly 6) for over 2 years, since DH died.

Mostly I like living alone, and I cannot imagine sharing my space permanently with another man. But it does get lonely sometimes.

I do. Lived in shared houses over my 20s, but then everyone got married, and I have no single friends currently. I've lived alone for about 10 years now. Childless, parents dead, never been close to sister, though we do exchange emails from time to time. A few years back, I spent 3 weeks working from home, after writing off my car. The isolation made me nearly suicidal. I go to work mostly for social contact, so I see people (the irony being they're all on leave or on projects at other sites currently, so I'm still alone, though there are others in the building.)

I like having my own space, living to my own timetable regarding meals and bedtime and so on, everything to my taste.

Sometimes, it would be nice if someone else could put the bins out or do the vacuuming (I know people not living alone can say that, too.) Or just to have a hug when it's been a bad day.

I think it's okay if you've got a good social life (I don't) and/or work that doesn't make you feel isolated and unappreciated. There's a lot in favour of living alone, but you do need the other areas of your life to be in balance. Actually, that's probably true whether you're alone or not.

I'll be in the same situation soon. Dreading the loneliness, but looking forward to the space/independance.

I live alone aside from DD (4) however I do 50/50 with her dad so half the week she is with him.

Honestly, I love it. I relish having time by myself, although I do have a fairly active social life. I really enjoy time on my own, so I think it will be a while before I live with anyone again.

I would like a relationship (perhaps) but I wouldn't want to live with them.

I lived alone with my ds for many years. It was very hard at times, but on the whole I made the pros outweigh the cons.
I'm happy in my own skin but prefer company. Not sure if this helps, but I did have a few ways of making sure I didn't go mad. Firstly, I invited people over to my house a lot. Like, all the time. Not in huge groups - just one to one. Even people I didn't know that well, like the single-mums of my ds's friends. Over time I built up a huge group of supportive friends. I worried at first they would think I was desperate, but I discovered that most of them were also lonely and very happy that I made the first move.
Second, I joined a babysitter service because they drive and so I always had a sitter if I needed one and didn't have to take them home - which you can't do if you're single. This meant I could go out whenever I wanted (cash permitting).
Thirdly, I never put myself in painful situations, despite my mum pushing me! So I avoided those awful stand-around drinks parties where everyone else comes in a couple and you just stand there hoping that a kind stranger will talk to you, clutching your glass and feeling 12. I just refused to put myself through it.
Finally, I told myself it was a phase and it would pass. I didn't always believe it, but I kept on telling myself life would not always be like this and I wouldn't be single forever.
Make the changes you feel you need to live the life you want. You will get there.

I live alone and I love it; it's my own personal sanctuary for when I get home from work and shut the door behind me. My work is sociable and I have friends and family that I see on occasion, so most of the time I am happy to be on my own.

I'm in my late thirties now and I haven't completely dismissed the idea of having children, but it's never been a major ambition of mine; all I've ever wanted was to be self sufficient.

I've had girlfriends stay over for weekends when I've been in relationships, but I couldn't really imagine anyone moving in with me permanently because it's my home and everything in my home belongs to me. I think this is the problem when you've made your own life for yourself and are pretty happy, it becomes harder to compromise and share it with someone else. People that move straight from their parents house into a home with their partner and have never had their own space don't really understand this.

Maybe sometime I'll meet a woman that will really knock my socks off and we'll get a new place together, but she would have to be better than Miss Average (and Dame Everage as well).