Lizzy stays in a self-contained apartment with two other ladies as her roommates. She was generally an introvert. The three ladies lived together successfully for about 4 weeks after which they started having issues and quarreled a lot. The other two ladies, Lizzy’s roommates, were not quite comfortable with her character. They claim she does not talk to them much and do act as though she were better than everyone else. Lizzy was surprised at her roommate’s comments because to her she was acting normal and there was nothing strange to her. This confrontation made Lizzy worried and disturbed.
When I took time to reflect on the whole issue, I discovered that the ladies didn’t understand each other’s character. The main issue was each person’s character.
Characters are unique identity or trademark of every individual. Rarely would you come across two different persons with the same character in every aspect. Though there might be similarities in character, they can never be 100% identical. We meet with different people every day, and while we are able to adjust well and live easily with some, it takes some time to understand others and there are some others that we can’t cope with at all.
Characters are influenced and affected by different factors e.g. parenting styles, family/social background, social status, natural attributes etc. All these factors build and make up an individual knowingly and unknowingly. Therefore, we all can’t have the same character since most of these factors are different for every individual especially that of your natural attributes which is your perception of things.
Knowing that we all don’t behave the same way, there’s a need for us to be ready always to adjust and cope with everyone around you. Understanding every individual strengths and weakness will help greatly to minimize how you cope with people. This may not look as easy as said, but you also have to realize that someone somewhere has had to understand you to stand with you. Do same for someone else, we are not always perfect.
Lizzy’s roommates would need to understand, respect and accept her personality and not pick up quarrels with her. And as they do this, they might probably be able to get her involved and interested in the things they do.
As we have been born differently, one at a time, so are we with different characters. Understanding, accepting and respecting one another makes us live together in harmony.
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