I am 73 years old, and I have been living by myself for the past eight years. It wasn’t something I planned or longed for. It simply unfolded that way. In the beginning, I was scared. I believed loneliness would sit on my chest like a heavy weight. Today, I can say something I never thought I would: living alone can be meaningful, peaceful, and deeply human.
It didn’t happen overnight. I made plenty of mistakes—more than I’d like to admit—and there were moments when I nearly lost my sense of direction. But with time, I learned an important truth: living alone is not the same as being isolated. The line between a calm life and a painful one is drawn by small, everyday choices.
Here are four things you should never do if you live alone—and four things you should always do.

Four things you should never do
1. Never allow your living space to fall into chaos
When you share a home, order often exists without effort. When you live alone, no one sees the disorder except you—and that’s where the danger begins.
Dirty dishes piling up, unopened mail, clothes scattered around aren’t just harmless habits. They often signal that something inside is unraveling too. Disorder in your surroundings slowly seeps into your thoughts, making everything feel heavier than it needs to be.