Being Accountable to Yourself: A Guide to Healthy Solo Living

Most teenagers, by the time they graduate high school, have spent their days and nights as a resident of the family home. Meals are provided and activities are planned without much input from the kids. The typical teenager doesn’t have to put a lot of thought into living a healthy life; they go with the flow of the family dynamics. Sharing space keeps us accountable to others. Our first foray into living alone can be exhilarating as well as challenging. When there is no one there to look over our shoulder, accountability shifts to us and us alone. Mom is not around to assign chores and siblings aren’t there to raise their eyebrows at the consumption of our third donut. Maintaining a wholesome and organized standard of living may be the biggest challenge to living alone. With a little planning and creativity, living a healthy solo lifestyle will be a walk in the park (an activity we should do every day.)

Accountability is King

While attending a concert last year, I reconnected with a couple of friends who had recently participated in various gap year programs after high school. In exchange for room and board, my friends worked as cooks, housekeepers, recreation assistants and activity leaders. Both of my friends returned looking fit and effervescent. When I asked them how they were able to maintain a healthy lifestyle while living alone, enduring long days and having access to anything in the kitchen they wanted, they agreed that it didn’t start well. They said after several weeks of careless eating and untidy living, they made a pact to be accountable to one another. Inc.com suggests that an accountability partner is like peer pressure – with the volume turned up a little. You could say that having accountability is healthy peer pressure.

Live the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared

Men’s Fitness recently reported that it is scientifically proven that living alone can wreck your attempts at healthy living. Positively, living alone while navigating the whimsical nature of everyday life is not the easiest gig. When our schedule is disrupted, we often attempt to minimize the disruption by making another area of our life easier. When you have to work an hour over, you may be more likely to swing by a fast food joint on your way home in order to regain that hour you lost. But if you spend a few hours on Sunday preparing meals for the week, you will be less tempted to go in for that supersized deluxe meal on your way home. So bite the bullet, put on some music and cook for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. Your health – and your wallet – will be much obliged.

Take Time to Develop Good Habits

Being prepared and finding an accountability partner essentially comes down to the art of developing good habits. And developing good habits is fundamental to a healthy lifestyle. A recent Q & A in the Washington Post sets us straight on how difficult it is to build a healthy habit. Those who find the most success in adding and subtracting habits to their lives, are the people who focus on one change at a time. Prevailing theory asserts that it takes about 90 days for a habit to stick. So, give yourself a break if you backslide, but get back on track as soon as possible. Developing good habits also includes showing your emotions, good and bad. If you are feeling extra emotional or feeling inconsistent, consider introducing a hormone balance supplement into your daily routine. Make it a habit. You will notice a dramatic change in the way you act and feel. 

In a D.H. Lawrence novel, the author, when describing his character’s lifestyle says, “She lived a good deal by herself, working, passing on from day to day, and always thinking, trying to lay hold on life, to grasp it in her own understanding.” The “she” in this passage really seems to grasp the value of living alone and making the most of her days. Just one year of living alone can build a lifetime of healthy habits.