My boyfriend and I have a pretty complicated relationship and home life, if I can talk to you honestly.
We love each other very, very much, but there is a lot of conflict between us on a regular basis.
Part of this is certainly due to my own shortcomings; namely, my unfortunate mental health issues. One of the best ways to circumvent our nasty arguments is having time away from each other, when he goes out of town for the weekend to travel for work or to see family. I really love my time spent alone in the house, except for one small part. I always feel so incredibly guilty. Not about my man, he’s fine travelling alone, but about my energy expenditure in the house. You see, we reside in a very large home with an open floor plan. It’s great for us and our friends who come into town, but it’s a large house to heat or cool consistently. This is normally not a huge issue, because we feel like we utilize the central heating and cooling system quite responsibly, but I don’t feel that way when I’m home alone. Suddenly, I’m the only being who necessitates the furnace or AC unit. I’m the only soul that can feel uncomfortable and demand that the thermostat improves the indoor air quality. It makes no sense to pump high quality treated air into the entire 2800 square foot house when I’m only occupying 400 feet of it, but there’s not much other choice. These days, with the frigid outdoor air temperature and reluctance to power up the furnace, I don’t feel quite as relaxed or rejuvenated when my boyfriend goes out of town for the weekend.