International Day of Peace includes your home, too

Before we can tackle world peace, we should aim for peace in our homes.

September 21 marks International Day of Peace, a day dedicated to quieting the rage of dispute, intolerance, unrest and crime across the globe. It’s a pretty lofty goal for one day out of the year (what about the other 364?) but it’s an honorable goal, indeed.

While world peace would certainly do everyone a bit of good, it’s important to keep local peace in mind as well. Maintaining—or creating—a sense of peace in your home is important to your health and wellbeing. To accomplish such peace, there are a few tough obstacles that you’ll have to face.

Make every effort to resolve conflicts between roommates. If there are unspoken harms, find the strength to present your concerns with patience and clarity—skip the accusations, assumption, and sarcasm. Simply state how a situation affected you and your desire to make things right again. If the damage has been done, resolve to forgive and move forward. How will harboring anger, resentment or sadness improve your life? It won’t.

Financial issues cause rifts between roommates all the time. Settle any outstanding debts. If you are the lender, determine if it’s financially feasible for you to forgive the debt and offer your roommate a clean slate. If it can’t be forgiven, offer a sort of payment schedule that could alleviate the burden on both ends. On this day of peace, don’t let old hurts cause new wounds.

Resolving conflict in your family can ease personal tension and stress, which ultimately resorts to you being a happier, healthier roommate. Give your parents and siblings a call or visit to make amends, regardless of who is at fault. Remember—forgiving is hard but a life lived under the mental and physical stress of unforgiveness is even harder. At odds with your significant other? Begin settling those issues now so that you can enjoy your time together. Pleasant personal relationships will make you’re a perkier roommate who is easier to live with.