An introspective question

Around about 5:30 this evening, I was accosted by a colleague and as we were chatting, I asked him if he was going to an event on Friday night here in Adelaide, known as Dum Maro Dum, a party event. My friend said no (and many other things but I shall not post them here), and told me of another event, along the same lines as Dum Maro Dum, which in his words, was supposedly better. After telling him politely, that I wouldn't attend, my colleague somehow insinuated that one of the reasons for my non-attendance, is that I would not be allowed to attend.

This set me thinking. Is this how my peers think of me not attending a nightclubbing event? As a 21 year old, am I obligated to routinely go out and party? Must I genuinely stay out late at night? Are these rules codified somewhere, whereby I can refer to what I must do at a particular age? While thinking, I realised, if I am indeed not following 'the trend', then I am in effect, rebelling. Thus, by not following a trend that youth follow, I am subconsciously following Rule No.1 in the teenagers' handbook "Be a Rebel". However, I don't know if this actually applicable. I think not, however it did sound like a good point at the time.

Rather than now bore myself, with philosophical arguments of my actions being rebellion against rebellion itself, I boarded the bus home for a quiet journey. However, I could not get the question/insinuation out of my head. I felt that this needed to be answered in more ways than one. Moreover, I needed to make this answer public, as this would affect how my peers perceive me. If they honestly thought that I do not go out because my parents do not allow me, then their perception is wrong, and I must correct this immediately.

Firstly, I have never been banned from going out to a nightclub. It is a subject I do not often broach about to my parents, and even when I do, I have always been given what my colleague calls "permission". Therefore my parents' permission or the alleged lack thereof is not even a factor in me not attending DMD and similar programs.

Let's pursue another track. Rather than establishing why I do not need to go nightclubbing, it would be better if I looked at the purposes served by nightclubbing and then analysing if these purposes can be served by not nightclubbing, and whether I need these purposes to be served in the first place.

When I asked several of my friends why they went clubbing, some answers were:
1. To have fun.
2. To get drunk.
3. To intimately interact with people (of the opposite sex).

I do not believe that in order to have fun, I must visit a club. As a 21 year old, I have my own ways of deriving happiness, a by-product of having fun. I am involved in many associations, clubs and societies and organising functions, as well as participating in such functions, give me immense happiness. I do not feel that partying in a night club will allow me to have as much fun as I would have when I would be pursuing other activities. If that is the case, I have no need to go clubbing on a regular basis, and therefore I don't.

My response to reasons 2 and 3 are going to be the same and hence I have grouped them together. The response of this comes from my value set, and since this is a question about why I
do not go out, I believe that my reliance on my set of values is more pertinent here than above. I do not drink, due to a combination of my own choices and my religious beliefs. My choices and religious beliefs are my private opinions and as far as I know, I have never let these beliefs be imposed on others. Furthermore, I do not believe in that drinking will allow me to get ahead, or positively influence my career in anyway. Thus, from a practical and a personal level, I do not drink, and I do not want to drink, and thus, I do not want to go clubbing for this purpose.

I will use a similar (and shorter) response to reason 3. Once again, my values, and religious beliefs combine to mean that I do not wish to intimately interact with people of the opposite sex. If this somehow implies that I am gay, then I cannot change others' opinions just as they cannot change mine. Moreover, if reason 3 is directly linked to reason 2, I believe that is a betrayal of trust when people are intimate with those who are not in their senses. Thus, based on this reason alone, I do not believe I need to go clubbing.

Finally, I'll take your indulgence about one more reason. In my previous lines above, I had used an objective method, into why I didn't go into a nightclub. I shall now propose a subjective reason. The way I view myself, i.e. in my self-perception I do not want to go out clubbing. And in the end, I think that is all that matters.

I think that's enough introspection for one night

PS: Sorry for the word length.