When I first moved in with my roommate, it was great. I mean, he was my best friend. What could go wrong?
Well, fast forward to being quarantined. After seeing the same person daily, every single habit of theirs starts to irk you. The way that they throw their dirty clothes on the floor, don’t turn off the TV once they’re finished watching, even the way they talk might start to get on your nerves.
As someone who isn’t particularly fond of confrontation, I held in my complaints. And I was miserable. This went on for around a month.
My roommate, who is very confrontational, noticed the tension between us and approached me about it. Fed up with it all, I lost my temper and yelled at him about every single thing that was vexing me about our roommate situation. Although an unpleasant situation at the time, the argument spurred a lot of improvements. As he had always lived alone before, he hadn’t noticed the habits he was so accustomed to had been bothering me.
We came up with a list of “household rules,” along with chores to do weekly.
Here are three tips to help you avoid the sticky situation above.
- Communicate!
Even if you don’t like confrontation, communicating doesn’t have to be a big deal! Casually raise the subject between the two of you. Lack of communication will cause a lot of build-up in tension and stress, not only for yourself, but for your roommate as well. Setting boundaries and rules are good ways to make sure that both of you respect each other.
- Get out of the house
Sometimes you might just be sick of your roommate because you see them all the time. Personally, I need my “me time.” Try going on walks while maintaining social distancing or even just sitting out in your front yard.
- Live elsewhere (temporarily)
Getting out of the house not enough? Contact your friends or family and see if they can let you stay at their house for a little while. Even a few days can help! If it really comes down to it, consider moving out to preserve your mental health.
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