Leslie Stephens: The Joy of Living Alone, Plus How To Design a Home for One

Leslie Stephens is the writer behind Morning Person, a top 10 Substack newsletter that chronicles her life in Portland, Oregon. In August last year, shortly after her 30th birthday, Leslie announced to her readers that she was separating from her husband. Over the past 18 months, she’s chronicled her journey of living by herself for the first time, including her recent solo house purchase – which we chat about in this episode. She also shares her advice – as a former food and lifestyle editor – of establishing a home by yourself, and – crucially – for yourself, rather than designing around the absence of someone else. Whether or not you’re already familiar with Leslie’s work, this conversation is full of gems for any kind of solo living – I hope you get as much from it as I did.Thank you to our season sponsor Sensate, a palm-sized infrasonic stress and anti-anxiety device. Visit getsensate.com/alonement for 10% off your first device. This season of Alonement was edited by Pineapple Audio Production.Chapters00:00Introduction01:00Learning to Make a Home for One02:25Designing a Home as a Solo Liver05:22The Challenges and Mistakes of Designing Alone06:47Designing with a Partner vs Designing Alone10:59The Lack of Resources for Solo Living11:55Creating Content for Solo Living13:17Making Changes in a Solo Living Space14:44The Importance of Solitude in Designing a Home19:44The Lack of Resources for Designing a First Home Alone21:08Building a New Relationship with a Parent22:32Navigating the Grey Areas of Life25:16Coping with Weekends and Sundays Alone27:07Finding Joy in Cooking for One32:29Creating Recipes and Experimenting with Cooking Alone38:11The Inspiration Behind the Novel 'You're Safe Here'46:26Maintaining Solitude in a Relationship47:45The Ultimate Alonement: Movement and Stillness10:00The Importance of Self-Awareness20:00The Role of External Validation30:00Navigating Comparison and Social Media40:00The Impact of Internal Dialogue48:40Conclusion With a one-off payment of £5, you can listen to the Alonement podcast ad-free. https://plus.acast.com/s/alonement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.