25 Great Ways to Celebrate Living Alone

9. Gain practical skills

Voelckers, who often tries maintaining and repairing her house herself before hiring an expert, says YouTube is her friend. Before the video platform came onto the scene in 2005, she sought advice and step-by-step instructions for projects, such as replacing a toilet flapper, at the hardware store — a place she still visits regularly. That was the case recently, when she noticed the enamel on her “faithful old washing machine” had chipped in several places. After a consultation with a hardware store employee, she bought the right type of paint, “went online just to make sure I was doing everything right — preparing the surface properly and then dabbing on properly — and I fixed it all by myself. And it looks gorgeous,” she says.

Long-term cohabitation invites people ”to specialize,” which “can limit our development of personal skills,” Worthington says. Stretching beyond our comfort zone is “how we grow.”

Gaining practical skills is about more than saving time or money, notes Voelckers. “Every little task I master reinforces a simple but profound truth: I can take care of myself. It reminds me that I’m capable. And resourceful.…Plus, it’s just plain fun. There’s joy in doing something I once thought I needed someone else for.”

10. Pursue noisy passions

Living alone gives you the opportunity to let off steam without anyone getting annoyed at your music choices.

Jared Oriel

Voelckers, who also writes a monthly column called “Live Alone & Thrive” for a regional health care newspaper, has taken drum lessons since retiring nine years ago. Part of her morning routine is to practice drumming drills.

“There’s no one here to listen to my mistakes and judge me, or criticize me, or become frustrated on my behalf,” says Voelckers, who admits to loud, exasperated groaning after blunders at times. “I’m really able to experience the freedom of that creative and growing process on the drums as I improve my technique.”

The drums are so loud that Voelckers herself usually wears earplugs. She feels good knowing she’s not bothering anyone — at least no one human. “One exception is my cat, who gets really annoyed when I play, and runs upstairs,” Voelckers says. “It always hurts my feelings, but I forgive her.”

At 2 a.m., when Van Keuren struggles with insomnia, she blasts Bruce Springsteen songs while baking poppy-seed bread or weaving a scarf on her floor loom. “I have about a million favorites, and yes, I do bellow along with The Boss, but that’s probably another reason why it’s good that I live alone,” she says.

One more reason to create a racket? “As kids, we have fun making a lot of noise,” says Lieberman. “It lets off steam and tells the world we’re alive.”

11. Expand your connections

O’Connor knows what Voelckers means. At the same time, he occasionally creates connections with others precisely because he doesn’t live with someone.

“People ask me, ‘Don’t you feel bad going alone?’” he says. “And I say, ‘I make friends everywhere I go.’”

Reminiscing about a camping trip several years ago, O’Connor says he keeps in touch with a family from an adjoining site who took him in for three days because they wanted to be sure he had good meals and conversation. 

When we don’t live with someone, we’re encouraged “to expand our social network to meet our needs for aloneness, coaction or intimacy,” says Worthington.

12. Eat what you want

Van Keuren appreciates that she doesn’t need to consult anyone about what she puts on her shopping list — or in her mouth.

“I watch my weight and eat healthy, but sometimes you just want pancakes for dinner, or pasta for breakfast, and I don’t have to worry about anyone questioning my food choices or laughing at me,” she says. “And if I want to eat dessert first — no problem!”

Although it can be nice to share meals, “let’s face it, we don’t always like some of the things that the other person likes,” says Worthington. “And hurt feelings can happen when we refuse to eat what the common fare is.”

13. Eat when you want

Holmes, who was previously married for 14 years, doesn’t feel pressure to serve meals at specific hours.

“When you have to do something, it’s just less joyous,” she says. Now “I’m dictating the meal, I’m dictating the day, I’m dictating the time, I’m dictating pretty much everything." 

Lieberman says that’s the way it should be: “Your body tells you when it’s hungry, and this is the best time to feed it rather than at some artificially imposed time.”

14. Love the leftovers

Van Keuren will often cook a big pot of soup or a casserole on the weekend and nosh on it throughout the week. She doesn’t fret “about someone getting bored because they’re eating the same thing every day,” she says. “I’m fine with it, and that’s all that matters.”

Voelckers can relate, although she shakes things up a bit. She may grill a pork tenderloin, for instance, to slice real thin for a Cubano sandwich; then use leftovers for a stir-fry with snap peas, mushrooms and onions; then use the leftovers again for a salad mixed with sliced apples, crumbled goat cheese, walnuts and a balsamic vinaigrette. 

Sharing beloved leftovers “can be an exercise in self-sacrifice,” says Worthington. “While that has a lot of gratification, sometimes it’s just nice to [save] that cold sliced spiral ham or tofu surprise we couldn’t get down without stretching our stomach out of shape. But tomorrow? Ahh.”

15. Hog the bed

Go ahead and sprawl like a starfish if you want. This bed is just yours!

Jared Oriel

Stretch those limbs and sprawl like a starfish if you want. No one’s going to push you to one side of the bed — or keep you up with their tossing and turning or stealing the sheets. “I find I get a more restful sleep alone,” O’Connor says.

Another upside to not having to share your bed, at least with a partner? “Let’s say you get in a fight,” says Holmes. “You don’t really want to go to bed with this person that you despise, but you have no choice.”

These days, Holmes decides when her boyfriend stays the night, a position she calls “empowering.” And he has to agree to sleeping in on the weekend or “he is not staying over.”

Getting enough shut-eye is also good for your health. Says Lieberman: “Sleep allows your brain and your body to renew itself, one cell at a time.”

16. Revel in sole ownership

Holmes is grateful that her possessions are all her own.

“I love that when I buy something, it’s mine, it’s not half mine,” she says. “When you get a divorce, you lose half of everything you own, and that will always be a traumatizing thing for me.”

Says Lieberman: “Sole ownership allows you to feel like you’ve made it.”

17. Learn more about yourself

Ever since she was a child, Van Keuren has been comfortable in her own company. This has led to never-ending self-reflection as she navigates days and nights according to no one’s schedule but her own.

“I have a lot of time to think and carry on internal conversations,” she says. “For example, I fit into that vague category called ‘spiritual but not religious.’ I believe in God and I talk to her constantly — sometimes out loud — and can do that because I’m alone. I can ponder where I am in life and where I want to go in the future. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about retirement and what that word will mean for me. Because I live alone, I have all the time in the world to do my thinking, and I cherish that ability.”

Living alone gives Voelckers the opportunity to turn inward daily as well, which “has taught me that happiness comes from within, fostering a deep appreciation for the person I have become — a person who feels complete and whole, ready to embrace all that life has to offer.”

“You can focus on yourself and discover all the inner magic you never realized you had,” says Lieberman.

18. Attain financial self-sufficiency

Achieving financial independence is something a lot of young people strive for, and the same goes for many older adults after a divorce. One in 10 people divorcing in the U.S. these days is 65 or older, according to 2024 research by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University.

“Divorce can be a painful time, and it often comes with a financial hit, too,” says DePaulo. “Many people are on their own for the first time in decades. It can all feel very daunting. But being able to afford a place of your own, despite all the challenges, can feel like a triumph.”

Van Keuren is going to get a double dose of that triumph in late 2026, when she’ll have paid off her mortgage. “I can’t tell you how glorious this feels,” she says. “It’s just a dream I’ve had since I was young: to own my own piece of property and be able to manage it as I wish.”

“Being financially self-sufficient allows us to feel a lot of pride and self-confidence,” says Lieberman.

19. Be spontaneous

O’Connor describes himself as an active person with a desire to do a lot of things at the spur of the moment, “one after another sometimes, maybe too much,” he says.

For example, he likes looking out the window, noticing it’s going to be a nice day, then jumping in the car to go kayaking. If he lived with somebody, he’d be apt to ask them whether they wanted to tag along. O’Connor imitates an answer he’d likely hear in the past: “Well, it’s gonna take me an hour to get ready…”

“But I wanna go now,” he says. “I’m a very spontaneous person, [and] if you’re spontaneous, living alone is great.”

Lieberman says, “The most fun happens when you are spontaneous — and it’s always a lovely surprise.”

20. Nourish a deep relationship with your pet

Go ahead and embrace your cat lady status.

Jared Oriel

Holmes loves the bond she has with her 15-year-old dog, a Samoyed named Murphy. Pets “don’t have bad days,” she says. “They can’t talk. They just love you, and they appreciate any love you give them in return. It’s not complicated. It’s a very simple, loving relationship. Human beings are not simple.”

Van Keuren, meanwhile, embraces her cat-lady status. “I have two now, but I’ve had up to four in the past, so, you know, I’ve got my street cred,” she says. “They’re my fur babies. They are my darlings, my little furry therapists.”

Pets can also be exercise buddies. With a dog, for example, “instead of sharing walking duties … we can get to walk twice a day instead of once,” says Worthington.

21. Be lazy

Van Keuren says she can’t come anywhere close to matching the production level of a friend who sometimes wakes at 6 a.m. to vacuum and do five loads of laundry. She likes to leave dirty dishes on the table from breakfast and lunch — no one’s going to say anything about it, after all — and wash all the day’s dishes at once after dinner.

“I hate house-cleaning and am happiest when I’m stretched out on my couch with a good book to read,” she says. “I don’t live in a filthy house, of course — I do take care of what needs to be cared for — but I don’t stress out because my housemate found dust bunnies on the stairs.”

For Voelckers, living alone “can feel like getting a permission slip to just be,” she says. “There’s relief from constant doing and the pressure to be ‘on’ … I give myself that permission all the time, with no apologies or guilt. I see it as time for rest and rejuvenation.”

Worthington calls this time “simply refueling.” And Lieberman says both our mind and our body need downtime, so lazy days, aside from being enjoyable, “are vital for your health.”

22. Nab good concert tickets

People who live alone often do things alone — and that can mean finding excellent single seats at concerts.

That’s what happened to Voelckers when she searched online for a Carnegie Hall ticket to see the jazz singer Samara Joy, whom she has been following since Joy was named best new artist at the 2023 Grammys.

“There was one seat — I’m not kidding. It had my name on it,” she says. “In the balcony, in a box seat, in the front … I said, ‘I gotta go. I’m getting it.’ It was meant to be.”

Another perk of attending a concert unchaperoned? “I’m not worried about whether the person next to me is having a good time or is sleeping or whatever,” Voelckers says. “I’m just there, loving it.”

Lieberman says this speaks to a larger point: “Life is to be enjoyed, and live entertainment is a lot more enjoyable than being a couch potato.”

23. Face the fear

Society celebrates partnerships and romantic relationships, yet the capacity to be alone is an undervalued aspect of well-being, DePaulo asserts.

“People who enjoy living alone are more likely to be emotionally mature,” she says, “so they’re not bandied about so much by these fears of being lonely or not having anything to do … if there’s no one else around.” 

Those fears are prevalent. In 2024, 33 percent of older adults felt lonely some of the time or often in the past year — a figure that jumped to 42 percent at some points in the years since 2018, according to data from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.

“Facing the fear of living alone will also give you courage to face other fears,” Lieberman says.

24. Be authentic

Ultimately, when every reason gets boiled down, the desire for authenticity is what lies underneath.

DePaulo likes following her gut. She doesn’t want to worry about what someone else may think if she gets up in the middle of the night to work, or explain herself if she stares out the window “with this far-off look” for too long.

She credits Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone, a book released in 2024, with helping her to link solitude with opportunities to be more authentic and autonomous.

“You get to think with your whole mind and feel with your whole heart, because there’s no one else physically in the periphery — and they’re less likely to be there in the back of your mind, influencing your ideas about how you should feel or how you should behave,” she says.

You’re also less likely to edit your actions to avoid judgmental opinions, even about trivial things such as what to watch on TV.

Instead, “you get to be who you really are,” DePaulo says. “You’re not looking over your shoulder wondering, ‘What will this person think of me if I do this or if I don’t do that?’”

Van Keuren puts it this way: “The biggest thing for me is just the feeling of being in charge … I’m the queen. I can make the decisions that I want to make — you know, within reason — and I can make them when I want to make them.”

“Authenticity is the key to life,” says Lieberman. “Figuring out who you are and being fully you is the most freeing feeling there is.”

25. And lastly, know you’re not alone

Voelckers says that while she may live by herself, it doesn’t mean she has to take on every challenge by herself. She recalls the time she discovered a bat hanging upside down in a ficus tree in her living room. At first, her heart was pounding and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. After calming down, she called some friends down the street for assistance in getting the bat outside.

“The unexpected can happen to me, and I have the wherewithal to get help when I need it,” she says. “It was one incident after the next after the next like that [which] eventually gave me the confidence that I can manage whatever life throws at me.”

Lieberman says that knowing there are friends and/or family “just a phone call away” is “extremely comforting.”

“Living alone, to me,” Voelckers adds, “doesn’t mean being alone.”