This summer I did something crazy: I lived alone.

For the first time in my life I had complete freedom to do what I wanted. I cooked my own food, I chose my own sleeping hours, and I did how much work I wanted during the day. I was forced to become an adult.

As children, we grow up having little to no control over our lives with everyone between parents, teachers, and other authority figures ruling our days. As teenagers, we are considered "untrustworthy" and still forced under constant supervision, and now, not just by our parents and teachers, but by the government and law enforcement and more. It's not until college where suddenly you are thrust into a world of (for the most part) your own control. Living alone, however, is a whole new adventure. An entire step up from just simply escaping home and going to college--and it's an important one at that.

This summer I didn't just live alone; I learned an important lesson that stretches into all different aspects of my life: "The Importance of Being Alone."

Often in today's society we feel the need to constantly be surrounded by others. It's considered "bad" to be an introvert, "bad" to spend time for yourself. Some would even call it selfish. The truth of the matter is that there are certain things you just can't do with others--an idea our group-mentality society often forgets to let us know. There's no shame in missing out, and there's no shame in spending a month on your own away from the rest of the world.

This stretches into relationships as well. Often, especially at the age I am now, people begin to feel the pressures of finding someone to date, someone to bring home to the parents. The truth is, some people spend so much time jumping from person to person they never stop to focus on themselves and what they truly need.

At this age, we're not yet adults, but we're no longer children. We're in a very special time of our lives where we have the chance to be "selfish" and focus on ourselves. We should take those opportunities when they come, and spend time focusing on the people most important in our lives: ourselves. After all, it's okay to be alone.