All my childhood I shared a room with my older sister and was dreaming of the time when I will be all grown up and will be able to not just have a room of my own, but an apartment just for me, just the way I like it.

Fast forward 7 years. I am almost 25 and I share my bed with a roommate.

I am not upset about it, I am actually utterly grateful for the way my life is right now and that if I have to share my bed with someone, it is her. However, it is definitely not for everybody and this is just my non expert observation:

  • Most likely you will never ever be alone for a long period of time again. Here I don’t even mean the time when you go to bed, because, well unless your roommate is in a serious relationship or just likes to sleep around, him or her will always come back to bed in your shared room. (It just happens for me, that we have just one bed, hence we sleep in it together). Other time is obviously dedicated to work or studies and if your working/studying hours are similar, your free time hours will be at the same time too.
  • If you are a girl and live with another girl like me, well you will eventually have synchronised periods, which result in synchronised mood swings, cravings and other PMS symptoms for both at the same time. Someone else’s misery can actually benefit you in those dark days and give some perspective to your own behaviour, which is great, because eventually you will learn to control your own symptoms. (At least I hope so).
  • Two people sharing one wardrobe, does not mean twice as many clothes! I had this situation with my sister, I have it now too. We all come in different sizes and shapes, let alone styles and it is a good thing! With sharing clothes comes great responsibility for aforementioned clothes. If you have respect for the person you live with, you would have to respect their belongings and wearing them becomes pretty stressful.
  • If you are not a morning person and your roommate is, well you will most likely have to become one. (I choose to write my journal when I wake up, so I can still have a moment for myself while my brain switches on). On a flip side, morning people tend to go to bed earlier, so evenings are usually a quiet time to catch up with whatever reading, writing or studying you have to do. (Which helped me with planing my day). It is said that waking up early is good for your health, so at least you are not harming yourself and get to see more of a daylight.
  • Wanting to do two different things at the same time when being at home, will be practically impossible. (There is nothing much to add to that, living with someone is always a compromise, the smaller the shared space the bigger the compromises would have to be).
  • Your roommate will become like one of a family. Mostly because you would have seen each other in absolute worst and best and weirdest. Hopefully it all goes well and you become more like brothers or sisters rather than distant cousins you don’t want to know nothing about. I strongly believe that you are not born into a family, but you grow into it together.

Cheers with an elephant in a glass.