Temporary Compatibility

When I first started telling people I was going to move in with my housemate Brian, the comment I frequently got was that I should “try it out”. I knew each time I heard this statement that this is at the same time a spirit of appropriate caution and the spirit of worldly compatibility. My response to this suggestion was always “No, I need to go into this with the attitude that this is a forever change in the way I live, or I will not be committed. If I know I have an out, I will not put all I have into it”. My instinct has proven to be true, and I understand better why this way of living is best.

When Brian and I first moved in together, we got along very well. Our personalities seemed to complement each other. Soon after moving in together, the pandemic began, and I was out of work for almost three months. At the same time, he was working less frequently, so we spent more time together at home. The differences in our personalities that we once found entertaining and endearing began to become irritating. I started to see this as an indication that maybe we were not compatible as housemates. Perhaps we shouldn’t live together after all. Thankfully, we have a two-year lease, so I was not able to act on this feeling of incompatibility and desire to end the connection. Because of this, we have learned to accept the parts of each other that are difficult to live with, or, more accurately, are in an ongoing process of doing so, and our friendship is strengthening and growing because of it. This is similar to how marriage is supposed to work.

People change. Multiple times throughout a lifetime. No one stays the same. For example, when Brian and I moved in together, I thought I would be able to live the same life I had been living by myself with him with ease. I was incorrect. I realized that I was far more malleable than I thought I was and could not maintain my life plan as I had when I was on my own. I thought this was the end of at least our being housemates, if not our friendship, but instead of acting on that assumption, I brought my problem to his attention, and we’ve come to a compromise that helps us both. This would not have happened if not for our commitment of a two-year lease. This would not have happened if my attitude had been one of trying something out. I believed this was the way God wanted me to live, so we are trying to make it work.

Human-Written, AI Spell-Checked 4/25/21 AD

Image from weather.thefuntimesguide.com