What do you do when you and your roommate get into a disagreement? It's pretty uncomfortable for a short time, especially if you don’t know your roommate all that well. Here are some things that you and your roommate should consider when you have a disagreement:
Give each other some space. When you’re living in the dorms or apartment, space can get pretty tight. What you can do to cool off for a little is to take a walk or go to the library. This will give you both some breathing room so if the disagreement hit a nerve or made either one of you uncomfortable, you’ll have time to cool off and think about what had happened.
Talk about it. When it gets uncomfortable after a fight, no one really wants to mention anything during the first couple of minutes or hours about what happened. Regardless of how uncomfortable or awkward it may be, the best thing to do after giving each other some space is to talk about it. Once you talk about the disagreement, there will be a weight lifted off of your shoulders.
Figure out what you both can do to avoid these situations. Figuring out what ticks people off is a really beneficial way to avoid disagreements or situations. Have an open discussion about what you both can do in order to not instigate a disagreement. This will also help you both be more comfortable bringing issues or concerns up.
Apologize. It doesn’t matter who started the disagreement in the first place. Apologize. Being able to show that you can apologize for a disagreement, whether big or small, shows character. It will show that you value your friendship with your roommate more than you care about the disagreement.
Don’t be passive-aggressive. I know we all can get passive-aggressive when we don’t feel like bringing a disagreement up, yet we make subtle hints that we’re irritated by this situation. Avoid doing this. It’ll end up causing more tension and awkwardness, on top of feeling annoyed about the disagreement.