Life throws a lot of different opportunities and challenges at us. It is up to us how we navigate through turbulent times. When I was in my university back in 2017, I had to live in a hostel with different students. This is what hostels are for. I shared my room with four people from different social and academic backgrounds. Their names were Jazib, Sarang, Mahmood and Farman. (names are changed)
Although most of my time was spent outside of the hostel room, I had to come back to the room eventually at night to get some sleep. They were always very kind and we lived together for four years and we also grew a strong sense of friendship together. However, there were times when they created turbulent consequences for our friendship.
Jazib studied in the evening shift and he was awake all night. He was diabetic which is why I took a lot of care of him. However, the rest of us had classes in the morning. He kept the light on at night and used to talk out loud regardless of the sleep of others. He cared very little in this regard. It created a lot of problems for me because I could not perform in the class due to a lack of sleep. To navigate this turbulent scenario, I had a conversation with him over a cup of coffee and told him how this little thing is affecting my grades. I made it clear and he understood it.
Sarang and Mahmood were studying in Geology department. They both were extroverts unlike me. I do not like crowds and things that they did. I am more into classical and soft music and they used to play hard rock metallic music that too very loud. I could not tolerate this at all. I had to give a strong reaction to them. At first I told them that I do not like this. I constantly requested them to decrease the volume of music and also do not invite so many people in to the room because it is the invasion of our privacy.
I navigated this turbulent scenario by being more calm and understanding. I just calmly walked out of the room whenever loud music and too many people made me uncomfortable. They soon understood it and this issue got resolved.
Farman, on the other hand, was a hard nut to crack. He was studying Law and it was never his own wish to get into this field. He was forced by his parents to study Law. This is why he was all cranky and grumpy all the time. He used to yell at everyone. It created an uncomfortable environment in our room. I felt like his feelings were clogged and that he needed to open up about his feelings before it is too late. I told my other roommates that they should not mind whatever he says, he did not mean it. I decided to be there with him. I helped him in talking to his parents. He wanted to be an entrepreneur. He is on his way now.
This is how we should navigate through turbulent times. It requires patience, courage and clever talk to address such turbulence. If we do not act in such ways, we might end up losing important people and opportunities. Today, my friendship is really strong with my former roommates even after the end of our hostel life and I feel proud of it.
Have you ever gone through such similar situation? How would you behave if you were in my situation?
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Ps: The pictures are mine taken with my Google Pixel.