Difficult People: How to Stay Sane When You Have to Deal With Them! by Holly Brown MFT

Often what makes people difficult is that they lack awareness of the needs of others. They’re not about to adapt to you – they expect you to adapt to them. Depending on your relationship, it can be incredibly stressful. So what do you do?

• Identify the specific behaviors that make this person difficult to deal with.

• Consider how much impact this person really needs to have on your life (a boss vs. a spouse, for example).

• Know your own triggers. Accept what you and can't control.

• Be strategic. Strategies can include communication, assertiveness and coping. Or it could be that nothing is going to change and you need to work on accepting this.

It’s hard to accept what we don’t like, but in the long run, it’s better to do so than to keep fighting a losing battle.