Spartan Scroll

by KERRY MULIA

Vrrrrrrrrr. As I tried to ignore the droning sound of the vacuum that rang through my room and go back to sleep, my father burst through my door and opened the window blinds.

  I groggily opened my eyes and tried to shield myself from the sunlight. I reached to grab my phone to check the time. Squinting my eyes, I saw how early it was.

9 o’clock.

  A sigh escaped my lips. It was too early for a teenager to be awake on a Saturday morning.  After a long week of school, I wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed all day.

Seeing that I wasn’t getting up, my dad shook my shoulders, “Don’t be so lazy, it’s the weekend, how about we go out today?” 

But it’s the weekend, two days of leisure time, or in my case time I can enjoy staying at home, reblog posts from Tumblr, or even binge watch my favorite shows.

I’m not against spending time with my family, but I honestly have a much better time lounging around at home. I’m what you (might) call a “ homebody,” a “person who likes to stay at home, especially one who is perceived as unadventurous.” (Thanks Google, for calling me unadventurous.)

However, I can’t be the only one who prefers to stay at home, and I’m definitely not lame or “unadventurous” as Google said.  If staying at home makes me happy, then I feel it’s okay, but of course there is the other side of me, the side that says, “Hey you’re 17; go out and do something fun for once!” 

As much as I love to kick back and relax at home, there are a few disadvantages to being a dedicated homebody. Relationships with my loved ones began to deteriorate as the connections I previously had began to fade. I even hid in my room away from my family (like every other teenager) because I would rather be alone and avoid the awkward silences whenever there was a conversation. As long as I had my laptop and the Internet I was happy, but this happiness and enjoyment of being alone and staying at home didn’t last.

I began to feel bored in the comfort of my house, and the side of my conscience that was advising me to go out was now desperately telling me to seek some adventure in my life.  It seemed the homebody side of me screamed to stay at home and argued that it is better for me, while a part of my brain nagged me not to go back to my introverted ways. 

Both sides were consistently arguing over what is best for me, and I had to make a decision. A sense of nostalgia hit me when I reminisced about the fun I had with my friends in the past. I realized how long it has been since I last spent weekend time with them.

The relationships with my loved ones that I worked so hard to establish throughout the years cannot be allowed to suffer just because my homebody side wants the comfort of the familiar.   

As a senior in high school, I know I should be spending more time with the people I care about. The realization that I’ll be in college soon has spurred me to start making changes now.

So as a second sigh escapes my lips, I hear my dad call to me again and I get up from my bed with the resolve to make the most of weekend time.