Me and M have been a couple for nearly five years now. Three of those, living together and everything started in February 2012 when we moved to Dubai. I’m not going to lie, the first six months were tough. We weren’t used to each others habits and even hanging around almost 24/7. There come certain responsibilities when you start living with someone; you have to start compromising and get used to being around that person, accept their behaviors, habits, attitudes. I rounded up five things we had to deal when we started to live together and know each other:
1. Organization: I’m an extremely organized and tidy person and M is simply not. I hate living in chaos and not having things where I think they are supposed to be. He just doesn’t care where anything goes. I don’t expect most people to understand it but he does and makes an effort – sometimes because I point it out – to cater to my paranoid behavior. I also know I’ve gotten better at not picking at him so much for it.
2. Giving each other space: this is always hard, specially because most of our living together has been in studio or one bedroom apartments. It doesn’t leave you a lot of places to storm out to. After a fight we used to split, each going its way, because M feels the need to cool off, while I like to get to the point and fix the situation. Ever since we started living together I feel the need to cool off and just be quite, maybe sleep it off, and talk the next day. Even though we share the same space, we also know how to give each other space.
3. Cooking: normally, I’m the one doing the cooking, and this was the hardest compromise I had to make. M has a peculiar taste when it comes to food and there are a lot of things he automatically rules out of his meals. I, on the other hand, love trying new things and enjoy eating pretty much everything – with two or three exceptions. I’m still not used to having to cater more to his tastes than mine but whenever I get the chance and patience to do two different meals, I do it.
4. Electronic handling: I’m almost going against myself for writing down this one (because my work is mainly on a computer) but I had to get used to the fact that he spends a lot of time on his iPad and iPhone. He reads the news, articles about his field of expertise, fellow players, coaches and plays virtual games. I also do that but always try to do it when we are not together, so we can spend quality time together. Given that I spend more time home than him, I try to be sympathetic and not pick on him so much.
5. Beauty regimen: this one is harder for boys to get used to than for girls. Him getting used to all the things I use/do/put on is something that only comes with time. I don’t take that much long to get ready but I surely do a lot more than he does when it comes to taking care of my hair, skin, nails and overall look. He’s a handsome guy who doesn’t need a lot of maintenance but I do started to introduce some habits into his routine (e.g. putting on face cream even if you don’t shave).