As far as my relationship to other people is concerned, I found that there were aspects of my personality that had only persisted because I needed to justify myself and appear consistent in other people's eyes. To give a stupid example, I had gotten into a rut of being a film snob, and after living alone I found that I like popcorn movies for what they are and I like arty movies for what they are and I don't feel so tense about what my dvd choices reflect about me.
As far as my relationship to stuff and to the environment is concerned, it's a closed system and responsibilities can't be avoided... the dirty dishes in the sink are caused by my actions and will only get clean by further action on my part; the electricity consumed and the waste generated by my apartment is entirely my environmental footprint and can't be attributed to vague ideas of communal consumption or background consumption or something.
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