Posted on 11/24/2022 4:49:50 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
If you were to look under the roofs of American homes at random, it wouldn’t take long to find someone who lives alone. By the Census Bureau’s latest count, there are about 36 million solo dwellers, and together they make up 28 percent of U.S. households.
Even though this percentage has been climbing steadily for decades, these people are still living in a society that is tilted against them. In the domains of work, housing, shopping, and health care, much of American life is a little—and in some cases, a lot—easier if you have a partner or live with family members or housemates. The number of people who are inconvenienced by that fact grows every year.
Those who live alone, to be clear, are not lonely and miserable. Research indicates that, young or old, single people are more social than their partnered peers. Bella DePaulo, the author of How We Live Now: Redefining Home and Family in the 21st Century, reeled off to me some of the pleasures of having your own space: “the privacy, the freedom to arrange your life and your space just the way you want it—you get to decide when to sleep, when to get up, what you eat, when you eat, what you watch on Netflix, how you set the thermostat.”
The difficulties of living alone tend to lie more on a societal level, outside the realm of personal decision making. For one thing, having a partner makes big and small expenditures much more affordable, whether it’s a down payment on a house, rent, day care, utility bills, or other overhead costs of daily life. One recent study estimated that, for a couple, living separately is about 28 percent more expensive than living together.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I wake up very early just about every day, while the rest of the house is asleep. I call it my “me time” - listen to the birds, do the crossword, whatever. That seems to be enough alone time for me.
My former cop neighbor was buying a box of wine, years ago. I asked if he was restocking his wine cellar. He said the boxed stuff stacked easier than bottles.
Cats are my favorite people.
It takes two incomes to have enough money…
Frankly I still don’t get how people form relationships in this day and age.
It may be easier to get weird/weirder living alone, but never underestimate the power of a snoring spouse to drive a person psycho.
Symmetrical and flat on top and bottom…
I thought the Socialist Democrats WANT us all living ALONE, miserable, in dark caves with no electricity or modern conveniences, freezing and eating bugs. What gives? ;)
I’ve been single, and I’ve been married. Been happy either way, because I’m basically a happy person. And that annoys the heck out of them, LOL!
The only advice I have is that whether you are single or married, PLEASE be an America Patriot!
America FIRST, and EVERYONE on EARTH reaps the rewards. Keep tearing us DOWN and the chaos continues, here and abroad.
It really IS that simple.
“...never underestimate the power of a snoring spouse to drive a person psycho.”
LOL!
The loneliest people I ever knew were married.
I live alone and love it, but I don’t know any different. My main complaint is the lack of a handy man. They’re expensive and I feel uncomfortable having male strangers in my home. I need a man to do manly things - repair and paint walls, deal with new appliances, fix things, drywall, etc. etc.
.
Hahahahahahahaha
Well, snoring can be, er...intrusive.
When I was in the USN, our berthing was in the 02 Deck right under the arresting cables. You can guess, it was a noisy place to sleep. My rack was right on the main fore and aft passageway on that deck, all the way at the top.
So, when I was working the night shift, I had jet aircraft slamming onto the deck right above my head.
You could hear the incoming aircraft approaching the ramp, getting louder and louder. The plane would impact the deck, and you could hear the roar of the engines as they were shoved to full military power. The whole compartment would shake, and you could hear the whine of the arrestor cable whine as it unwound.
Then, as they unhooked the plane and folded its wings to taxi away, you could hear the jet engines spooling up and down as it taxied. There was also the sound of the arrestor cables slithering back along the deck as it was retracted.
Finally, as the cable was pulled taut, it would slide back and forth over the leaf-spring that held it off the flight deck, making a snick-—snick-—snick sound until it finally be came taut and still.
Then the cycle would repeat, dozens of times a day.
On top of this, there were people walking by my rack all day long, going to and fro. They weren’t talking because that was a fastidiously observed conduct by crew-not talking as you passed by racks of sleeping sailors, but...the footfalls were heavy, and sometimes they were carrying equipment which bumped and scraped.
So, it was a noisy environment. But Iearned to sleep through it.
But, we had a sailor named Bowers who snored. Really loud. His rack was across the passageway from me, in a compartment behind a bulkhead (my compartment, the main one, had no bulkhead) so I heard him snoring though the entry door into that department
I know I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with it because I recall other people talking about his snoring, but one day as I tried to sleep, I simply could not, and I climbed down and walked over to his rack and looked at him for a second. The sound of his snoring enraged me, and I kicked the metal locker near the head of his rack.
To my astonishment, he didn’t wake up, but immediately ceased snoring! But as soon as I got back into my rack, he started up again. I immediately felt bad about it, because I knew he couldn’t help it.
But it made me understand how difficult it is for someone to block out snoring. I could block out all the other noises, but couldn’t un-hear the snoring.
I know married men who are in exactly that situation. Their health and happiness aren't anywhere on their wife's list of priorities.
Your top consideration for spouse should be kindness.
Of course you generally only see one side of anyone's marriage and have no idea what else is going on.
But sure, go live your life alone, die alone and be eaten by your pet alligator if you like. It is your life.
Wow, an article about the obvious.
Define “too much.”
You are probably correct about that. I think it is better to be single than live with a spouse you do not get along with.
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