As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today
What do you like and dislike about living alone?
There is an autonomy to living alone that you simply don’t have when you’re with a partner or raising children. I’d even go as far as to say you don’t have that level of independence with a roommate; there are always behavioral norms you have to abide by.
In this “Post X2” era, I’ve been forced to get to know myself again. When you live alone, the only “Policy” is yours. You eat what you want, when you want. If you want to hit the gym in the middle of the night, there’s nothing stopping you. Aside from work and being a respectful neighbor, you set the schedule however you please.
But no one exists in complete isolation. Our society isn’t really built for one—even the grocery store portions things out for groups of three or more. It forces me to be much more deliberate with my meal planning and careful about what I purchase. I make sure I’m only buying what I’m actually going to eat, though that shifts back into “extra” mode the moment the kids are coming over.
Then there is the “Kid Hangover.”
Whenever the kids head back to their mom’s or back to school, I usually leave their messes sitting out for another day or two. It sounds corny, but seeing their presence in the house makes me feel better, however hollow it really is. I miss their energy and the life they bring into my home.
On those first nights when the silence sets in, I resort to comfort viewing—a baseball game or a Star Trek rerun—just to help me drown out the quiet.
There’s something about the familiar cadence of a starship captain or the steady rhythm of a nine-inning game that makes the walls feel a little less far apart.
I see a guy about eight houses down who is a single dad experiencing the “empty nest.” He’s always in the yard, looking for things to keep himself occupied. It makes me wonder about the radical adjustment of a truly empty house. I’m lucky that I’m not there yet, but I’m learning that moving slowly through the silence is still moving forward.
2026 Reflection: I looked back and realized I answered this exact prompt one year ago today. A year ago, I was focused on the “efficiency” of living alone—how to meal prep and stay cost-effective. Today, I’m focused on the sovereignty of it. The silence in the house is the same, but the way I inhabit it has changed. I’m no longer just “getting by”; I’m rebuilding with intention.
We talk a lot about “The Rebuild,” but what happens when the dust settles and all that’s left is the background noise? This week, I’m taking a kid-free weekend to sit with the “Hum”—the 11, 13, and 14-year frequencies that define where I’ve been and where I’m going as we close in on Day 1,000.
Tomorrow, I’m digging into the “12-year hum” that turned out to be 11, the 14-year record of this blog, and why the math of grief and divorce is never as neat as we want it to be.
Episode 5: The Hum drops Wednesday morning. Grab your headphones.
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like 👍, comment, and subscribe below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media and check out my recent posts!
- The Autonomy and the Hum
- Why the Small Screen is Winning
- The Paradox of “Not Caring”
- A Letter to the Boy Who Wanted Mars
- Is the Sun setting on Nu-Trek?
AI art created with Google Gemini.
The article “The Autonomy and the Hum” firsts pleated in Rebuilding Rob.
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