Comparing living alone vs living with your parents.

 

Living by yourself and living with your parents is like living in two different planets. I lived in Riobamba for 17 years, then I moved to Quito to get my university degree. Comparing and contrasting the two lifestyles based on your responsibilities, freedom, and feeling of security shows how similar and different both lifestyles are.

When living with your parents you cannot fathom to what degree they help you in your daily activities and responsibilities.  In a family, everyone has each other’s back. At the family’s house everyone is responsible for laundry, cooking and washing the dishes. Even if someone has an isolated problem, most of the time the rest of the family will be there to offer help or advice. In contrast, when you live on your own, it is only yourself who is responsible for whatever happens to you. It is not that your responsibilities grow out of the blue, but rather that now it is only who is there to take care of everything.

Conversely, there are no similarities between the freedom you have living alone than the freedom you have living with your parents.  Living with your parents is similar to living with the royalty; you will enjoy the luxuries associated with it, but you will also have to defer to the king and queen of the realm. Most of the times they restrict your freedom because they are overprotective, and they just want you to feel safe and not hurt yourself.  In contrast, when living alone, you are totally free and independent. This also means that you are responsible for your choices and its consequences.

Even tough leaving the nest and living alone is just a natural part of your grow as a human being, both situations have many differences along with similarities. Although both lifestyles are similar in terms of the responsibilities they entitle, they are vastly different in terms of who oversees fulfilling them, and the freedom you have.