The art of doing nothing and not leaving the house all weekend

There was a time when staying home and lying around wasn’t considered unproductive. We’ve somehow reached a point where we feel guilty for spending all weekend doing nothing instead of constantly optimizing ourselves.

Apparently, doing nothing is only justified if you’re ‘recharging batteries’ for being more productive on Monday. What if I don’t want to recharge anything? What if I’m just enjoying my couch?

Great personalities across history have been the biggest homebodies, like Emily Dickinson, who famously lived a relatively secluded life. People tried to get her out, and they say her friends would even come to her house and she wouldn’t come downstairs.

I wish society made room for this type of temperament and that it stopped being treated like something to change or fix. Some people genuinely prefer low-stimulus environments and solitary activities; it’s not like they have a problem, they just have a preference.

Treating homebodieism like a problem to be fixed for me is like treating my preference for vanilla ice cream like an issue because I should prefer chocolate. It doesn’t make any sense.

Being introverted doesn’t mean I have social anxiety, at least for me. I’m actually great at socializing; I just love staying home and enjoying the quiet. I’m perfectly capable of being the life of the party; it just has to be a party that I want to be at, and that doesn’t happen very often.

To me, massive random parties feel atrocious. There is nothing I want less than to be surrounded by a massive amount of strangers in the dark listening to generic electronic music blasting from bad speakers.

Some people like partying, and they’d go wherever there is a party; the party is the goal. I go to parties if I want to party about something or if the theme of the party attracts me enough. I don’t party just because. I have to like the kind of people who’ll be there, the music, everything.

That’s it; it’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that I’m selective, and that doesn’t seem to be the norm. Also, for me, attending an event depends greatly on my mood. Something can seem very cool when it’s in three weeks, but not when it’s today, and you have to start getting ready at 2 pm. Let’s agree on this: the person who makes the plans and the person who has to attend them are two different people in my case, ok?

I know all this might seem a little too complicated, but please don’t get us homebodies wrong; we want to be invited, included, missed; we just don’t want to go. We can talk about how the party went on Monday over coffee or some other quiet plan.

What I need is for extroverts to understand there is a difference between choosing solitude and being socially excluded.

So don’t forget to invite us, but don’t count on us!