At first I was very uneasy about spending a month of my summer in a place that I haven’t been in over half a year. This past month of being in my hometown has been bittersweet in the sense that it has been both peaceful and stressful at the same time. It has provided me with the restful time to decompress from the school year that I just endured and time to begin preparing for the events of the remainder of the summer and this upcoming fall. However, along with that valuable time of rest comes the stress of an endless assortment of things to do in one month while also dealing with the stresses that come with moving things from an apartment to my hometown back to my house for next school year. The introvert that is the very soul of me is freaking out at the idea of living with five other people in a house and the details and events that entail with that. It’s not that I’m not excited to be living with the people that I am next year, because these guys seem pretty awesome, but as an introvert there are some things that come to mind as worries that I am having. The way to relieve these worries is by letting them be known on a public level. So hopefully this article helps another introverted person out there with similar worries as I, because it isn’t the easiest to say what we’re worried about out of how we think others might perceive it.

I feel that I am a compete outsider when it comes to the group

To be fair… I haven’t known any of them that long, so that’s a contributing factor to the whole situation. Also, I’m not always the easiest person to meet because I’m not the type of person to introduce myself first. Anyways as time as gone on, I’ve become better friends with them but I fear that I’ll always be the odd man out in the house because of how we differ on views of certain things and the fact that I’m not directly in the friend group. Introverts and extroverts alike can communicate to overcome this obstacle that could be a worry for some of those involved.

I worry that my input will be disregarded or overlooked

I am by no means an extremely quiet person but I do suffer with the occasional problem of being a passive out of wanting as least conflict in my life as possible. I have the worry of my input being disregarded because I’ve been in situations before where I’m completely invisible to others and that never changes. I know this is unlikely situation but many introverts fear being misunderstood or forgotten (this is scientific fact). In a house it’s easy for an introvert to be overlooked by the strong personality of an extrovert so it is important that in living situations that all parties place an emphasis on all voice being considered as equally vital to the end decision.

AND

I worry that I will not always be the best roommate

As an introvert, I've always focused a lot on living independently so it will be a huge adjustment to living with five other guys, so I worry that I won't extend grace to others as much as I should. Hopefully if you're reading this and are in the situation I'm in then I can help you grow in that department just as I am. Although there might be times that we want to bang our head against the wall because someone is doing something you aren't necessarily a fan of, you have to remember that God made us to live in community with people of different varieties. As roommates you're going to mess up but living together is about growing and doing life with one another.

This article is meant to serve the purpose of being an example of how to prepare your introverted self to live with others by shining some light on the worries that you might have and how to work with others to help alleviate those concerns. I hope this article has serve a good purpose for at least purpose that is currently or about to enter into this type of situation. It might be nerve-wracking at first living with others but doing life with others is what it's all about so I wish y'all the best of luck.