Living alone as a Special Olympics athlete can present unique challenges, but with the right support and preparation, it's do-able. Trust me, there will be challenges at first.  

I started living on my own in 2017 when I was 27. My parents, who have been my rock and my main support since my birth, are always looking for me to succeed and live my own independent life. My dad was looking on craigslist just before Thanksgiving 2017 and a new listing had just popped up for a very reasonable 1-bedroom apartment which included heat. My parents reached out to the person on my behalf, and we went to go see the place. Since I was working at Stop & Shop and Special Olympics MA at the headquarters as a receptionist, my parents thought this was a good starting apartment since it was centrally located in the middle of both jobs.

After my parents learned about my finances and knew I had the necessary income, they helped me find my first place and I moved into a 1-bedroom apartment.  I needed the first month’s rent and learned what a security deposit was. My parents helped me understand what each payment was, and I paid for it all upfront. Then, I had to figure out how to manage my own finances and how to pay for the essentials like Electric, Internet, car insurance and more. I find it helpful having my parents help me manage my finances. It was scary paying for these things, but it helped in the long run. I was scared and nervous to start living on my own since I've seen and heard good and bad things and had never really been alone but I, Gregg, had to have to adapt to my new journey in life!  

When I was younger my parents would always tell me what order things needed to get done. When I started living on my own, I was constantly juggling tasks and feeling so overwhelmed to where I was starting to feel like I was sabotaging myself. This was reflected in my work tardiness, and I found myself starting to procrastinate more. I would delay tasks, miss deadlines, or actively undermine my personal success. I would also isolate and withdraw from friends and family or avoid social interactions, even when support is needed. I knew changes needed to be made. I finally decided to show myself that I Gregg am a very capable person, and I can't let my self-destructive behavior destroy my chances for success. To figure out my self-destructive behaviors I went looking on YouTube for my morning wake ups, motivational quotes, and mantras. I also went looking at audiobooks on motivation, self-love, how to become the best version of myself, and how to be single and happy.

There are a lot of home maintenance challenges people with their own places need to face. The main things you must learn is how to kill unwanted pests, taking out the trash, and doing laundry in a timely manner. Although I have gotten better at these things, I am still facing some challenges and am excited to learn from those too! I used to hate cooking for myself so I would always order pizza from a local shop or order from restaurants using an app. When you start cooking and planning meals it's like a whole new lifestyle you can try.  My favorite meals to make right now are oatmeal, macaroni & cheese, pulled pork in crockpot, grilled cheese with tomato soup, English muffin pizzas or anything easy to make and anything that lasts two, maybe three, meals.

Being a Special Olympics athlete while living independently brings a sense of achievement. I think people think that being a Special Olympics Athlete and living independently is impossible.  A few of the positives of living independently you have no one nagging you to finish this or finish that, you can have that Amazon addiction you have always wanted, you can eat and plan your day, month, year however you’d like. There are some negatives as well such as you will fail more times than you think. I still struggle with managing a budget, food preparation, picking up after myself and choosing the right time to do laundry; but “Once you find your center you are sure to win”. Yes, song lyrics from Mulan. I think that more Special Olympics athletes should trust themselves to live independently, and being able to do more things for themselves is the best way to start.

Gregg Gallant is a member of the Special Olympics MA Content Squad. The mission of Special Olympics MA Athlete Leadership is to empower athletes to develop communication skills and utilize their voices to assume meaningful leadership roles. As members of the Content Squad, athlete leaders contribute to Special Olympics MA story-telling through interviews, photos, video creation, and more.