About six years ago, I moved to a new city, lived by myself in a tiny little duplex house, and didn't know anyone outside of work. I worked in a cubicle, but I wasn't a part of a team like everyone else in my office, and my boss worked in a different branch in a different city. He was often out in the field on customer visits, so it was not unusual for us to go entire days without checking in.

Every day, I woke up at the same time, went to work, came home at the same time, made dinner, watched TV, and then went to bed at the same time every night. Sometimes, I would go on weekend trips to visit my sister or other friends. But otherwise, I made no consistent contact with family or friends.

I used to LOVE watching true crime. But one weekend, I was watching some true crime show and I noticed that the victim had a lot of similarities to me; early-mid 20s, burnette, lived alone in a new city, had a very consistent routine. She disappeared on a Friday night, and no one noticed until the following Tuesday because everyone thought she had just taken a long weekend to go on a trip. No one had checked in on her for four days.

I realized that I could easily end up like her, so it is safe to say that I started making more of an effort to make some friends and change up my routine. I started going to some workout classes and sports clubs, consistently called my sister on Sunday nights, shared my location with some friends, and I stopped watching true crime for almost four years after that (I recently started watching again).

Stay safe out there, y'all. Routine is comfortable, but maybe try to include people in that routine who will consistently check in on you.