Q for homebodies, how much time do you actually spend at home and am I spending way too much time indoors?
I recently moved from the US to France and am staying with family who are perplexed at how little I leave the house.
I'm currently in the phase of looking for a job and then an apartment and I am staying with family until that happens. It feels like the main focus right now for me is those things, not necessarily going on traveling adventures around the country. I understand that being in an entirely new country is huge and novel and all the adventurers are screaming at me to hop on a train every weekend and visit anything. However, I'm without income and the more adventures I take the more this depletes my reserves, both financially and emotionally.
I leave the house to take a walk in the woods almost every day in the mornings, I also have no problems with leaving for appointments and going grocery shopping. I'll even hop on the bus from time to time to check out the ville and book shops, comic shops, cafes, and such. But I'm not doing it every day. The walk I do at least 5 times a week and the other stuff is as needed or as desired. I leave for the ville maybe once or twice a week. The majority of my time, especially during the week, is spent at my desk and on my computer job hunting, researching apartments, practicing French, and so on. Towards the end of the night I'll do one of my hobbies which is usually drawing or writing my comic, playing video games, reading, catching up with friends, a movie, or whatever. I have many hobbies that are solo types of hobbies and I enjoy them very much. (Normally I also have my dog with me and I'll go out a second time in the day with him, but he's with my mom until I find the apartment)
These habits are not dissimilar to how I lived in the US. I went for morning walks, I came home and worked from home, I'd play with my dog and do my hobbies in the evening, rinse and repeat. I'd do groceries, hang out with friends, or whatever I needed on the weekends but I wasn't desperately searching for reasons to leave the house just for the sake of leaving the house.
I can travel just fine when the time comes and I enjoy it. I can make it to appointments just fine stress free. I can do groceries, go to the park, go to summer events all just fine. If there is a worthwhile reason to leave the house I can without issue, but I'm not sitting on a timer the minute I come home which I feel like most of my family does. I see them come home and they are checking their phones for the next thing that's going to take them outside. That to me is stressful.
So my questions are, how much are you home bodies staying home? More or less than me? Am I staying home an abnormal amount of time? Am I being too comfortable and confident in how much I currently enjoy staying home? Should I try to force myself to leave the house more just for the sake of leaving the house? If so, what do you suggest I do without breaking the bank? Maybe I should make my strolls in the forest longer? lol I walk for about an hour in the mornings.
Also, what do you all do when you stay home? Do you enjoy it more than being outside? Why? How do you navigate the opinions of family and friends who say you stay home too much?