One of the major issues that you might come across while flatting is resolving arguments with your flatmates. Whether that’s who should’ve done the dishes or even settling a casual conversation turned heated debate.

In the wise, wise words of one of my philosophy lecturers last year; “the coolest thing you can do is change your mind.” (shoutout to Professor Agar). Now, I’m not suggesting that you should just fold as soon as you get into an argument, but it is crucial to enter any debate with the understanding that you could be in the wrong.

If someone gives you a good reason to counter your point, you may need to accept that and rethink your stance. I know it’s difficult, but no issue is ever going to be solved if all parties are blindly assuming that they’re correct, or worse, furiously grasping at straws to avoid being ‘wrong’. Making a mistake does not mean you’re stupid, but blindly maintaining that you did nothing wrong.. that’s pretty stupid.

Nobody likes when people start insulting others or refusing to see good reasons just to cushion their ego. In fact, I would hazard a guess that most people would have a lot more respect for someone who’s able to take a step back and say “okay, I see I was wrong, how do we fix this?” or “that’s a really good point actually, can we talk about that more?”

The key to this is (everybody say it with me now communication. Making it known that there’s no shame in changing your position or saying “I’m sorry” can bring you and your friends closer than ever before. Once one person does it, it’ll encourage others to follow suit.

Truly, I think the state of the world would be a lot more pleasant if we were all a little more comfortable with admitting we were wrong.