I don’t feel like leaving the house: what to do, in 6 useful tips

This situation is common in people who feel how they isolate themselves in their homes voluntarily.

It is completely natural that in some moments of our life we do not feel like going out of the house, and we prefer to stay doing some activity that we like in our intimacy.

"I don't feel like leaving the house" can become a frequent response to any invitation we are given. to any invitation we are given. There is nothing unusual about this, as long as it does not become an intense and recurrent behavior. Otherwise, we could even stop fulfilling our obligations by staying at home in an irrational way, as if it were a voluntary exile.

In this article we are going to see how this situation could occur and some ways to prevent and overcome it in case we already find ourselves presenting this behavior of voluntary social isolation.

Why I do not feel like going out of house?

The not wanting to go out of house can answer to diverse factors, all of them of very personal character. Each person may have his or her own reasons, depending on how he or she perceives his or her current situation, and these reasons may be real or fictitious.

For example, if we feel that at school or college we are constantly teased and that everyone is always whispering about us, this perception of things could be a reason for not wanting to go to the place of study, or for not wanting to leave home, in general.

In fact, one of the main causes of social isolation behavior in people is the perception that they themselves have about their daily life. the perception that they themselves have about their daily life..

At first it may not seem like a big deal to avoid leaving the house to avoid annoying situations, but if we do not have the ability to cope with such situations in our lives, social avoidance and isolation behavior may intensify, avoidance behavior and social isolation may intensify..

There is even a risk that it could become a significant problem in the person's life, affecting various areas of their daily life, such as personal, work, academic, and social aspects.

What are the most common causes?

In the following lines we are going to see some of the most common reasons why a person might not feel like leaving home.

1. Depressive states

Depressive states in a person, motivated by some negative experience, real or imagined, may cause people to avoid going out of the house for fear of finding themselves in uncomfortable situations again.can lead to avoidance of leaving the house for fear of finding oneself in uncomfortable situations again.

In major depression, in fact, the problem is deeper: the person does not feel like anything.

2. Anxious states

Anxiety usually accompanies the depressive state, but it can also occur alone, when the person has the idea that the things to do outside of the house will go wrong..

This is a pattern of accelerated and catastrophic thinking where the subject takes for granted that something unpleasant will happen to him/her if he/she leaves home, and therefore avoids doing so.

3. Grief processes

The loss of a loved one, or of some significant object for us, can be a trigger for the behavior of isolation at home, all motivated by sadness.

The subject who is going through a mourning process isolates himself from reality, because it seems adverse to him and he would like to be able to change it in some way. Since he/she is unable to do so, he/she decides to withdraw, usually by staying at home for long periods of time.

4. Radical thinking

People with radical thinking have little tolerance for the frustration of things not going their way; and if something goes the opposite way they would like, they tend to engage in disproportionate behavior, including spending days at a time at home..

5. Unhealthy and strenuous lifestyles

Too hard working hours or maintaining a lifestyle with too little sleep and a poor diet also leads people to believe "I don't feel like leaving the house" when what really happens is that they don't feel like it because they they can't spend any more energy moving around.

What to do to overcome it?

Isolation behavior at home can be prevented to a great extent if we are able to see things as they are really happening and not in an irrational way. Let's see how we can achieve this.

1. Check how long you have been exhibiting the behavior

Realizing how long we have not wanted to leave the house makes us aware of what is wrong. Starting from there we will be able to begin to work on solving the problempreventing it from going on for a longer period of time.

2. Identify what may have motivated the behavior.

If we can determine what could have happened to us to make us not want to leave our house, it will be much easier to start working on solving the conflict.

Once you have it pinpointed, you must evaluate the cause in an objective manner without letting your emotions generate biases.

Reality is as it is, not as you would like it to be.. If you really have an exhausting lifestyle, for example, wishing you had the strength to get through everything won't change the fact that you need rest.

3. Think about how not leaving the house affects you.

This exercise is useful to understand that isolation behavior does not benefit us in any way.On the contrary, it prevents us from facing the real situation and keeps us exactly where we do not want to be. We must internalize this reality and look for the best ways to deal with the problem.

4. Set schedules

Schedules are a very important support to establish habits that lead us to overcome ourselves, and in this sense they help a lot to adopt a more active and less sedentary lifestyle. Print it out and keep it in sight, having filled it with stimulating activities that lead you to socialize outside the house and to move in open spaces to keep you in shape, will act as an incentive and a constant reminder of what to do throughout the day. of what you need to do throughout the day.

5. Establish outdoor aerobic exercise routines.

Activities such as jogging or cycling are stimulating from the very first session, since they are not very complex and provide objective goals.They are not very complex and provide clear and simple objectives. In addition, this type of activity is beneficial for anxiety and mood disorders.

6. If all else fails, attend psychological therapy.

Therapy is a great help for people seeking to leave the confinement at home. The psychotherapist can help you assess the situations that brought you to that point and together it will be easier to find adaptive ways of coping to overcome the conflict.

Bibliographical references:

• Hopko, D.R.; Robertson, S.M.C. & Lejuez, C.W. (2006). Behavioral Activation for Anxiety Disorders. The Behavior Analyst Today, 7(2), 212-224.
• Iliardi, S. (2009). "Social Isolation: A Modern Plague". Psychology Today.
• Jacobson, N.S.; Dobson, K.S.; Truax, P.A.; Addis, M.E.; Koerner, K.; Gollan, J.K.; Gortner, E. & Prince, S.E. (1996). "A component analysis of cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 64 (2): 295 - 304.
• Svensson, C. (2005). Social Isolation: The need to turn to one another. Meeting the Challenges Quarterly.