Solo Survival Story

 

Thankfully, it never came to this.

Major achievement post.

I, quite successfully, just spent the majority of a month on my own!

The end of June, my parents and sister traveled to Nova Scotia for some time with our family. Because of a couple appointments early in July, which I had already rescheduled a few times, I was unable to go with them. So, that meant I was by myself. Having homecare, Para Transpo, and assistance from a neighbour if I needed it (I didn't) helped with any nervousness or reservations. 

As early as mid-May, I started to plan. I made multiple lists of what I needed to do before people left, what I wanted to do while I was alone, and even what I wanted to make for meals.

In June, with only a few weeks before everyone's departure, I made two big trips for groceries, got extra medication, topped up my account for Para Transpo, and went to one or two appointments I knew I would need assistance with. I also took advantage of the Canada Day long weekend to book some time off work and turn that first week into a solo staycation.

Before I could fully enjoy my solitude, I needed to figure out how I was going to accomplish a few regular bits of housekeeping.

One of the bigger obstacles I faced early on was the task of keeping our numerous plants alive and well. My sister was nice enough to create a calendar/chart for me to keep track of what needed to be watered and/or picked, when to do it, and how to do it properly. Extreme heat and disability-related issues made the continuous filling of water bottles a near-impossible chore, so I quickly adapted to filling what I could and soaking the lot a couple times a day. It was challenging but by the end of July, the family came home to a majority of greenery and even some vegetables. The numerous thunder storms we had through the month were a big help.

Other than that, it came down to assistance from homecare and developing routines. I started listening to music while cleaning, which made it surprisingly pleasurable.

With all that out of the way, it was vacation time!

That first long weekend, I did nothing more taxing than deciding what TV show to stream (Muppets Mayhem!) and what to order from the local pizza place.

Early that week was the appointment I had to keep, and it ended up being on the hottest day of the Summer (so far)! The appointment went well. I finished early, browsed through a nearby bookstore, and went to a coffee shop to get out of the heat, read, and wait for Para Transpo. I spent the rest of the day, and night (12 hours!), binging the final season and a half of The Flash and finishing the weekend's leftovers.

The following weekend, thinking of my grandparents, who I was missing, I planned a "TCAF-style" day for myself. I booked Para Transpo, went to a favourite bookstore to buy a couple graphic novels, went to write and read at a coffee shop for little while, before coming home and phoning various family down East to share about my day. A little later, I walked to a local pub for supper and swung by Starbucks for an iced latte on the way home.

The second week of July, my Father flew home for a week to work and keep me company for a while. We had the usual burger, then went to the cabin for part of the weekend.

He went back to Halifax earlier the next week, and I was alone again for another two weeks.

Work occupied a lot of the remaining time, though I did get in a few more outings for coffee, some socializing, and a trip to the comic shop.

My family got home at pretty much the perfect time. As much as I enjoyed being on my own, I was kind of done and starting to miss them.

It was a fun and interesting thirty-ish days, and a pretty bold experiment. There are a lot of things I know I could do differently, should I do this again, but overall I impressed myself.

Cheers!