Lagos
City is highly populated and as such, its inhabitants opt for all sorts
of living arrangements from estate settlements to shared flats and
hostels. While these accommodation options have their own unique perks, a
majority (especially those who are single) tend to prefer arrangements
where they get to live alone.
Sure, living alone sounds fab as in Lagos it
seems like a privileged opportunity, however, in my short period of
living alone, I have noticed several things that provide the summation
that living alone in this city may not necessarily be all that it is
hyped to be. I have also gone further to point out some of the worst
things about living alone in Lagos.
You spend more
Sure,
roommates or flatmates can be messy and you really do not want to spend
so much time fighting with them or cleaning after them, but then, they
come in really handy when it comes to splitting bills and rent.
One-bedroom apartments, studio apartments and mini-flats are
ridiculously expensive as they start from as much as N400,000 and even
get up to N 2,000,000, depending on their location within the city. When
you live alone, you have to cater to the rent as well as myriad
expenses including electricity, internet and cable -not to mention
furniture, toiletries and other shared items by yourself. With a
roommate, however, everything becomes affordable as you can split it
all.
You get REALLY lonely
While
living alone, you cannot expect to have all the space and ‘alone time’
that comes with it without having to suffer bouts of loneliness a times.
Basically, you only have your own company and there is no one else to
share random thoughts with or laugh with. On the days you suffer a tough day at work; you can’t really share the excruciatingly
painful details and laugh with anyone. Yes, you could pick up the phone
to talk to someone, but let’s be honest, that’s just not the same. Even
worse, sleeping
may be difficult as you are always on high alert especially when there
are unknown sounds that happen in the middle of the night
It is difficult to manage food
Even
if you have a large freezer, you find that you waste more food. There
is no one to share large take-outs with or give leftovers to and
sometimes, you get tired of eating the same stew for weeks and just have
to throw it out. You find that you have to forgo buying all sorts of
things when grocery-shopping, especially fresh vegetables as having them
stay fresh and consumed within the appropriate period of time before
they go to waste is the biggest challenge. You also have to struggle
with mastering portion control and learning to stick to cooking ratios
for one…not fun!
It is harder to deal with emergencies
Life
is unpredictable and sometimes, things do not happen the way you plan
them. Even worse, you may find yourself in horrible situations where you
realize your survival may depend on the help or even just presence of
another being. Imagine a situation where you have an allergy attack or a
heart attack in the middle of the night and you are alone with no one
to assist you; you may not make it to the next morning. With a roommate
or flatmate, however, you have someone readily available to raise alarm
when needed and a caregiver for times when you are just too sick to
cater for yourself.
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