Living with Family
The above tweet poll got me thinking. I've lived with my parents and in-laws for the past two and a half years. Like many others, we returned to our folks during the pandemic (May 2020). We were still determining how long we were going to stay. Six months later, I returned to Chennai, vacated the flat, and put all the stuff in a storage house.
Since then, I've stayed with my parents and in-laws, toggling between the places. We had plans to return to Chennai in 2022, but life had other plans. We were blessed with a baby girl earlier this month, and the plan to move to Chennai has been postponed by at least half a year.
I adapt to changing conditions quickly, so living with others is not a chore. However, I am now thinking if I am living in a way that's honest with who I am.
My answer is yes and no.
Yes, because I am not fundamentally different from who I am when I live on my own. No, because I find myself subdued compared to the most eccentric version of myself.
Living with family makes life a lot easier. So many things you don't need to worry about. You have less stress around managing the home. More importantly, you have the emotional and mental support to go through life's ebbs and flows. You tend to not have the freedom to do anything and everything you want, but it's a lot easier because I am a Man and am questioned a lot less than my wife.
On the other hand, there's more freedom and less pressure to meet others' expectations when we live independently. We are not governed by what should be done but by what we want to do on our own terms.
We want to go back soon, so that tells me the answer is more a yes and less of a no.