on my own

For the first time ever, I lived on my own in Portland.  It was a very short amount of time (two weeks) but a good sampler of semi-real life.  I say semi- because although I had to pay rent, feed myself, and go to my internship, very little was demanded of me.  However, when you have that much freedom, you have to sort out your priorities in a way that doesn't keep you under the covers watching Netflix all day in your pj's.  I made a point to get ready every day even if I didn't plan on leaving the house, and created "to do" lists for each day, even if the tasks were laughably small or insignificant.  

I spent a ton of quality Kaylie time, reading outside and catching up on online TV.  I really, really enjoyed this.  I've come to realize that as much as I love being around family and friends, I am built to "do my own thing."  I hung out with my housemates a fair amount (Can you say Game of Thrones and Friends marathons?), but for the most part kept to myself.  In the past, I would have felt a little pang of guilt for not wanting to be around people all the time, but I am learning how to accept my introverted nature and find a middle ground that works for me.  

I now see how valuable a love of solitude is while living "on your own."  Life isn't always a crazy adventure--sometimes the craziest thing that happens in a day is you miss the left turn to the grocery store and end up lost in the winding forest-y neighborhoods of Portland.  And that's okay, because although I can't wait for my multiple trips this summer and to live in London for a semester, I need the not-so-crazy days to balance out the more adventurous ones.