Filipino culture has that close-family ties, and moving out from your parents' house is a no-no especially if you are a fave child. However, as adult, i think at some point in your life, you should try living alone. There are different factors that forces us to move out from a place. So, whatever your reason in moving out from your current place, these are the 3 things you should check before living alone especially if you are a newbie for this lifestyle.
1. Emotional status - If you have a close relationship with your family or home town friends, this is one of the things that you should consider. Living somewhere else, even if you visit your home town sometime on weekends, would still kill you emotionally. Living alone is also like going to another country, with new people, place culture and environment. If you live in a dorm, apartment or share a studio type apartment with friends, you would still miss your family and friends back there. By living alone with strange people, you would appreciate every single moments that you live with them, those times that you shouted at them or laughed hard with them would make you realize things. There's nothing really like a family bond or home town-overnight hangout friendly stuffs, so if you consider moving somewhere far, be ready for emotional separation anxiety in the beginning, we call it #sepanks.
2. Financial - This is one of the serious challenge for grown-up folks---finances. You no longer live with your parents right? You're independent, by that, you are responsible for yourself, my friends, that includes your finances. From a personal experience, i live alone to save money due to the cost that i incur for monthly expenses in travelling versus living somewhere near in my workplace. Finances also means responsibility in budgeting for your daily allowance, food, transportation, basic needs and sometimes a little reward for yourself. My advice is save (1), do not spend beyond your means (2) and be practical and identify your needs vs, wants (3). So whatever it is that you do to your money, always be responsible, never let other people save you from your money and debt problems, if you can't simply manage your finances, well, better check if you can really live independently.
3. Maturity - Yes, you should be! Maturity is in relation with those two points, emotions and finance with of course accountability and responsibility. Living alone means you are responsible for everything that happens to you and your routine. You maybe prepared emotionally or you have money to spend, but remember, managing your finances is maturity when you are spending it wisely. Be responsible because you have moved out and you are living independently, you therefore should be a grown up about the way you act and speak in your community. You should also be responsible for your laundry, your place (clean it atleast for God's sake), your waste, everything that happens around your apartment, your workplace , your health (consider running and exercising), and your society. Just simply be pro-active, that's the sense of being a matured grown-up man and woman.
Truly, living alone might cut you at the beginning because there's a lot of adjustments when it comes to your "new" stuffs. However, living alone would teach you a lot of life lessons. You live alone now and independent, means that you are ready for the world. You would realize that life is full of responsibility, sacrifices (imagine how your parents sacrifice on their younger days right?), curiosity, challenges, fun and possibilities, try not to stumble on things, try to fight, be pro-active and most of all, seize every opportunity as you face the world as a grown-up person. Not all grown-ups are grown-up, show to the world that you are really ready for it!
