Why It's Okay To Dislike Your Roommate

By Shelby Rush on November 24, 2015

We experience people on a daily basis, and for most of us a decent portion of those people can strike a nerve or two.

However, nobody can strike a nerve like someone we live with, something growing up in a household with the same people for years can attest to. Although not being besties with the person we share private space with can be unfortunate, there are good things in the long run that can come from the experience.

1. You learn how to adequately express your dislike for things without attacking other people.

When it comes to someone you have to see on a daily basis, Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) is always the best option. Say what’s bothering you, and don’t dive into all the parts of that person you find annoying. This is good practice for later on in the professional world when it’s time to politely disagree with someone, but it’s not time to bring all your personal opinions into the mix.

2. You learn how to be in a situation that is less than ideal, and still keep your life in order.

It happens to all of us — we have a coworker or group member or something of the sort that we don’t get along with, but we have to keep up a façade in order to make our life easier. Now, having a roommate that you don’t see eye to eye with gives you practice on how to make small talk and be a civil human being, whilst still keeping your distance to focus on your own work.

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3. It encourages you to branch out.

That first year of college is always tough as far as meeting people, and having to live with a complete stranger doesn’t always make the adjustment a breeze. Having a roommate you don’t like on top of that can be a toughie.

However, this situation encourages you to step out of the comfort of your tiny room, and socialize with other people. Then, you have other friends and places to go, making run-ins with your not-so-bestie less likely.

4. You learn to not be petty.

Picking fights about every little thing is something we reserve for our siblings; therefore, disliking someone you see as much as you used to see your siblings makes those fights a daily routine. Living with someone you don’t like teaches you to focus on what really matters, and what is the actual root of the problem, rather than having an aneurysm because she bought orange dish soap when she knows you like the purple.

Overall, we can find all kinds of reasons to not get along, but disliking someone just because his or her face kind of bothers you is pretty juvenile and is generally a mark of immature children.

In college, you meet people from so many different walks of life with more opinions and traditions than you could manage to count. It helps you find yourself, and because of that, you learn what it is about the world that genuinely burdens you. Because of that, you can be a more rounded individual; even if you still decide to hate something, at least it wasn’t just because of its face value (pun intended).

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