As I scraped the dog poop off the deep grooves of my Dr. Martens, I can hear my roommate in my head.
“You agreed to this,” she says.
I agreed to living with the dirty mutt, yes. But having my backyard turned into a gigantic litter box? No.
The poop was still fresh, and the smell radiated off my $130 boots as I weighed out the pros and cons of this living situation in my head.
I live in a great house for dirt cheap. It’s in a good area, I have awesome roommates and a reasonable landlord. The only catch to living in this paradise I call home is the zoo my roommates run that takes place in my living room.
Having roommates can be an awesome experience — or it can drive you completely insane.
Tension arises from ridiculous nitpicky things like dishes and trash, but having a roommate with a pet is a whole different ball park — the smell, the dirt, the hair and the 6 a.m. wake-up call from Zombie the dog with an ear-piercing bark. Not to mention the caged bunny in my living room with the collection of a week’s worth of poop.
Don’t get me wrong. I love animals. But living with someone else’s pet can be a huge inconvenience.
Vibrations in my household were getting fierce while conflict stirred. Anger was quick to boil over, and the only peace was trapped between the dead wax on my Beatles record.
I came to a realization one day. I was in a parking lot, waiting for a car to pull out, when someone stole my parking spot. I saw red, but there was nothing rational I could do.
Moments later as I scanned the packed lot for a spot, someone waved his hand as he got into his car to leave.
“Finally,” I thought, as if his kindness was expected. But rage rang in my ears from the car before.
“Why am I still mad?” I thought. “Why does the negative affect us so much more than the positive?”
I try to let gratitude fill my mind and channel my emotions to get the most out of happiness. Instead of focusing on the negative, I look at the positive — like the love these animals give to my roommates.
There is no positive without a negative, but we don’t have to let negativity overpower us.
