Spending a week by myself.

This past week I spent it alone. Just me and our pets. It was different. I thought it was going to be amazing, but it turns out that it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. Here are some things I learned over the week of being by myself.

1. Don't be paranoid. We've all heard it's better to be safe than sorry. But don't push it. The night before my family left, some lady weirded out my mom. My mom was a little worried, and she passed that onto me. My problem is that sometimes I worry way too much, and this just happened to be one of those times. It got so bad that the first couple of nights even little noises freaked me out. Turns out that those little noises were just our pets. I also went to sleep with my TV on. If you know me well, you know that I never fall asleep at night with the TV on unless it's at someone else's house, usually my best friend's. A word of advice: sometimes it's okay to worry, but you should never worry so much you become paranoid. For me it took away a lot of the fun and relaxation this week was supposed to bring me.
2. After you cook, clean up your mess right away. If you don't do that, at least rinse off everything you used. I know that, and so should everyone else by the way. Anyways, sometimes I get a little lazy. This week just so happened to be one of those lazy times. I didn't want to wash any dishes. I should have, but I didn't. Once again, lesson learned.
3. Don't forget to eat. I can be a little absent-minded at times, and this doesn't always work out for me. Sometimes I forget to eat because I'm so pre-occupied doing other things. It's better when I'm with other people at times, because they get hungry.
4. Don't be a procrastinator. You would think that I would know this by now. I mean, I guess I know it, but I never actually do it. It's quite the problem. I should have done everything I needed to do in the beginning of the week so I didn't have to do it this weekend, right before my parents got home. I was planning on it. But it never happened. I wanted to watch a movie I haven't seen, or there was something on TV, or I wanted to read for a little while. If I was smart, I would have done everything first and then spent the weekend relaxing before my brothers came back. I never said I was the brightest, now did I?
5. Exercise really does make everything feel better. I wasn't planning on spending my mornings exercising. But I did anyways. Not only did it help my cramps a little, which if life was fair I wouldn't have this week, but I also felt better after. When I'm frustrated, or annoyed, or sad, or angry, whatever, exercise is one of the ways I get all that out without either yelling at someone or breaking down in front of someone.
6. If you're feeling alone in the world, go do something! I've had plenty of "I feel so lonely I would talk to ANYONE right now" moments this week. My solution? I went outside for a while and played with my dogs and did some yard work. I also would read, or get on facebook or watch TV. But I did something. Although, this week would have been a lot more fun if I were in Everett because all my really close friends are there. We could have had a blast hanging out. But, not going to think about that because that brings a whole bunch of sad things up and I don't want to be sad at this moment in time. I finally got past that.
7. It's really kind of pointless to stay up late when you are by yourself. Unless you're watching a movie that is. Most of the week I stayed up til midnight, but I woke up at 7:30. The few days that happened I felt awful. I didn't really want to go to bed, but I didn't want to stay up either. There was nothing really to do. I'd rather go to bed early than feel awful the next day.
8. If you have a bad day, there is not always going to be someone there to push you to stop moping. A little moping is alright now and then, but you don't want to spend all day doing it. I usually have someone around me to go do things with, and they help me to stop moping. But not having my mom around, or even my brothers, made that a little difficult. I had one bad day, and all I wanted to do was sit around and do nothing. I felt awful, but then I also felt awful that I spent most of my day doing nothing.
9. Take care of personal hygiene. Believe me. Just because you haven't been around anyone does not mean you should skip the showers or brush your teeth. I was already feeling a bit lonely and awful, skipping a shower just made me feel ten times worse. One night I fell asleep without brushing my teeth. The next morning my breath was disgusting and my mouth felt gross. Bad mistake on my part. Lesson learned. You might not be around people, but you have to be around yourself. Make yourself feel good.
10. Don't waste your time. Use it wisely. I don't really get a lot of "me" time anymore. Ever since we moved, my brothers are constantly at home. Usually one brother is using the computer, and the other the tv. And then college came around, and you definitely do not get a lot of alone time while living in a dorm. Sadly, I spent half the week wishing that my family would come back sooner rather than later. I love them and everything, but who knows when I'm going to have the chance to get some "me" time. I shouldn't have spent my time wishing they were back already when I know that next week I will be wishing for quiet again.

Well, this week was definitely crazy. I had a good time when I wanted to. Although, I don't think I should ever stay away from people this long ever again. The quiet is nice and everything, but it's slightly crazy. I started talking to myself. I know, I already do that. But this was worse. This week has proven that I am definitely a people person. Also, it's really weird cooking for five and then all of a sudden cooking for one. Let's just say I had lots of leftovers a few nights.