Overcoming Huge Challenges To Reside Alone; Who Else? :)
What I want to know is who else here has overcome huge challenges to reside on their own, independently? I am talking about people who never believed that they might be able to be an independent person, able to take care of theirselves alone without requiring the help of their family, partners, or carers of some sort. Please share your stories with me if you want to! 
I have my own apartment which I rent from two people I called Mum and Dad (although I am calling them by their first names now; I'm not sure if I will continue doing this, but I think so since it helps me to always remember who I am).
It has been three years and some months since I became independent like this, and I now do all of my own shopping, cleaning, and cooking -- something I am very proud of because it was SO DIFFICULT for me to achieve this level of independence over those previous three years. I also pay all my own bills which are all in my own name now, too.
I am on benefits. I think this is called welfare in the United States, although I am not sure. It is called welfare here too.
I rarely see the people I referred to as Mum and Dad -- which has been my choice (but I might relax that choice a bit; I'm not sure).
I have no friends, although I am a good friend to myself. Well... I do my very best to be a good friend to myself. I'm doing a lot better with that these shades.
Something I have been doing more of recently is eating some of my meals out at local cafes and restaurants. I consider this to be a step forward in my independence, rather than a regression; especially as I have rapidly gained a lot of confidence at being seen eating in public with a lot of people around. I can cope with people looking at me, now -- and I don't feel the need to "zone out" of what everyone else is doing just to be able to cope with being visible like that. Many, many months ago I used to regularly eat meals with the people I called Mum and Dad, which helped a lot with lessening the cooking workload for me when I felt emotionally overstretched. Then -- for a long time after that, I stuck to a strict plan of preparing all my own meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper. And now that I know I can do that, I feel that it is appropriate for me to allow myself to lessen the cooking workload again with this eating out approach... especially since it is improving my independence and confidence in various ways, as long as I don't do it too much!
So as I said: who else here has overcome huge challenges to reside on their own, independently? What struggles have you had along the way to achieving the level of independence you enjoy at this point -- and what are you most proud of having been able to do for yourself, on your own?
I have my own apartment which I rent from two people I called Mum and Dad (although I am calling them by their first names now; I'm not sure if I will continue doing this, but I think so since it helps me to always remember who I am).
It has been three years and some months since I became independent like this, and I now do all of my own shopping, cleaning, and cooking -- something I am very proud of because it was SO DIFFICULT for me to achieve this level of independence over those previous three years.
I also pay all my own bills which are all in my own name now, too.I am on benefits. I think this is called welfare in the United States, although I am not sure. It is called welfare here too.
I rarely see the people I referred to as Mum and Dad -- which has been my choice (but I might relax that choice a bit; I'm not sure).
I have no friends, although I am a good friend to myself. Well... I do my very best to be a good friend to myself.
I'm doing a lot better with that these shades.Something I have been doing more of recently is eating some of my meals out at local cafes and restaurants. I consider this to be a step forward in my independence, rather than a regression; especially as I have rapidly gained a lot of confidence at being seen eating in public with a lot of people around. I can cope with people looking at me, now -- and I don't feel the need to "zone out" of what everyone else is doing just to be able to cope with being visible like that. Many, many months ago I used to regularly eat meals with the people I called Mum and Dad, which helped a lot with lessening the cooking workload for me when I felt emotionally overstretched. Then -- for a long time after that, I stuck to a strict plan of preparing all my own meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper. And now that I know I can do that, I feel that it is appropriate for me to allow myself to lessen the cooking workload again with this eating out approach... especially since it is improving my independence and confidence in various ways, as long as I don't do it too much!
So as I said: who else here has overcome huge challenges to reside on their own, independently? What struggles have you had along the way to achieving the level of independence you enjoy at this point -- and what are you most proud of having been able to do for yourself, on your own?
