The Quiet Life

 I'm a twenty year old girl. I like spending time with my family. I like talking to my parents. I like reading - I can read up to four books a week. I like wasting my time flicking through the pages of novels I've never read whilst sitting on the floor of my favourite bookshop. I like taking the public transport and going places by myself. I like going to concerts and all the excitement that comes with it. I like going to university; learning and spending time with my classmates in an environment that, at this point, feels very familiar to me. And yes, I like staying home on the weekends.

Yes, I'm a twenty year old girl and no, I don't like clubbing. Shocking, right? Most people will probably agree with you. "You don't like clubbing? What do you do, then?" "Wait, you'd rather chill at home on a Saturday night? That's boring!" "What?! But you must enjoy life while you're young!" Oh okay. Let me tell you something. Not everything's about going out - not even in your twenties, woah there! Mindblowing statement! The fact that I don't enjoy doing the things that you do enjoy (and that are, of course, perfectly fine and acceptable) does not mean I'm not living. We, the people who choose the quiet side of life, can live life to the fullest just like you. To our fullest.

Going out is something that I enjoy from time to time - with the right people, in the right mood. But it's not something that I do, or would want to do, on a regular basis. Let's put it this way: clubs make me feel anxious. Just the single thought of being there, in a closed space, with no other choice but to stay until it shuts down at dawn makes me nervous. It is something that I've forced myself to do in the past, but now I'm through. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that there are things that I can control, things that are a choice, like wanting to go clubbing or not, but there are many things that are out of my hands. And feeling like I'm a million miles away from my comfort zone, scared and overwhelmed in the worst possible way in the middle of a dancefloor definitely falls into that category.

I'm a homebody. I know that. I accept that.
I just wish other people would too.