This type of community living for 11 months means a lot of things. Personal space becomes non-existent, bathroom conversations happen daily, and you know every article of clothing your teammates own.
You know everything about each other- and vice versa. You know what pushes their buttons, what everyone is good and not so good at, you know how people will respond to certain situations, and everything that happens you go through it together.
Sometimes my idea of what our team should be doing isn’t what we actually do. We’ve all grown up with different ideas of how a team or family works and sometimes it looks very different from another’s ideas. This can quickly lead to tension among us.
I say the team needs to step up and do this, but someone else thinks that’s not necessary. One person thinks people should act a certain way but I don’t see it that way.
When things aren’t going as I think they should, I get frustrated and want everyone to fix what they’re doing or saying.
But, I can’t control how people act or how events happen. The only thing I can control is how I act towards these things. When something happens that irritates me, I can choose to be sour about it or I can choose to respond with love and grace.
When things like this happen we have to examine ourselves and make a choice.
Are we going to blame others for the problems around us? Or are we going to look at ourselves to see what we can do to resolve the problems we encounter? There’s always that choice.
This is applicable to any situation in life, not just community living. In your workplace, school, church, with your family, friends, and loved ones. Don’t let the situations in your life control you. You can choose how you respond to them.
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.
-Victor E. Frankl
