Home Sweet Home

One thing I’ve never understood is how people always want to leave their parents’ house to be on their own. No, I’m not trying to say it’s a bad thing. I just don’t understand the reason behind it.

I mean, I could come up with a number of reasons. Maybe people want their privacy? But privacy as in what? I seriously don’t understand. Peace of mind? Are you saying the house you grew up in is chaotic? To be honest, I don’t get it. I think the valid reason is learning to be independent. That’s definitely something that makes a lot of sense. But even with that, I believe something is missing.

The only time I wanted to leave home so bad was a particular day my mom scolded me for doing something wrong. I don’t remember what it was, but I was so pained that I packed one of my bags and told her I was leaving the house. I was probably 7 or 8. Right after getting ready to go out, it started raining, so I told her I was going to stay till the following day.

Anyway, after school, I had to stay on my own for a year. Each time I left home to stay on my own, it wasn’t because I chose to. It was just the situation demanding it. I’ve never left home because of privacy or independence or all that people say. I believe these things come as you grow. Sometimes, forcing certain experiences to happen just ends up bringing more chaos.

So something I’ll never forget is the ulcer I got from living alone. All my years in my mom’s house, I never got an ulcer until I left to be on my own. Aside from that, I went through a lot, to the extent that I had to go to therapy.

One thing people don’t know is that sometimes as our relatives send us on errands, it may sound like we are being bothered. But these interactions actually help our mental state a lot.

Someone who lives alone can go days without talking to anyone and in the end complain of being depressed. Of course, you’ll be. It's like people don't know, but just simple interactions with people help us a lot psychologically, but that's a topic for another day.

As I said earlier, I’ve never willingly left home to be on my own before. You see those people who leave home to feed home but end up calling home for gari? I'm definitely number one. To be honest, if someone like me got a stomach ulcer just from living on her own while even getting support from parents, then I wonder what it’s like for those who choose to leave home on their own.