What I've learned About Taking Care Of Yourself While Living On Your Own
Since living at Homes Giving Hope for 2 years I have learned quite a few things. When you live on your own you get into a schedule for yourself and you learn how to take care of yourself when you. When you are on your own you don't have your parents to take care of you all the time. First let me say, I do love living on my own and being my own "boss" but it can get hard and you can forget that you need to take care of yourself and eat fruits and veggies. Because when you first live on your own your thoughts are
"I'm not under my parents rules anymore and I can do whatever I want"
"Since my parents aren't around 24/7 I can eat whatever I want"
"I can stay up as late as I want and sleep in however long I want"
"I want to live under my own rules"
These are some of the thoughts we start thinking when we live on our own. It is exciting for the first year or so but then you remember you need to check up on yourself and see what you are eating, and if you are sleeping enough and just overall if you're taking good care of yourself. One thing that quite a few people have told me
Because if it was your best friend you would want to take good care of your best friend... at least I hope you would! If I'm being honest here.. I don't always take the best care of myself. I mean, I am gluten and dairy free and shouldn't have gluten but I do cheat and have gluten more then I should. But then I pay for it later.
So my tip for when you start living on your own, it's okay to start doing what you wanna do and eat what you want to for a while but don't let it get out of hand and remember you have to take care of yourself. In other words, eat your fruit and veggies...
Two years at Homes Giving Hope, then the gluten-and-dairy-free cheat catching up later: that’s the pattern anyone aging out of care or moving into a first apartment should read. Without parents around 24/7, the “I can eat whatever” rush usually ends in Sunday crashes and six-hour nights. Running sleep, fruit, veggie, and water targets through a daily self-care routine calculator makes the invisible stuff countable. It’s not about rules; it’s noticing before your body sends the bill.
I set 10:30 p.m. lights-out and put frozen fruit on the fridge after the gluten-and-dairy-free confession. Then I ran my sleep, veggie, and water targets through a daily self-care routine calculator to see where the week actually went. Two weeks in: fewer Sunday crashes, same stubborn 6-hour nights. Still working on the veggie part.
I lasted six months, not the first year, before the “I can eat whatever” rush flipped. At Homes Giving Hope I watched someone treat gluten like a dare, then spend a Sunday doubled over; my version was the opposite—going gluten- and dairy-free early because cooking at home was cheaper than paying for mistakes. A simple self-care routine for living alone helped me keep fruit in the freezer, not just intentions. Still don't sleep enough.
The gluten and dairy free part hit home. I did the same with late nights, telling myself I was finally free, then crashed hard after a few months. Now I make a handwritten self-care checklist for sleep, veggies, and water. It sounds silly, but seeing my own writing reminds me I’m worth caring for, even when no one’s watching.
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